What You're Missing
by shapesintheclouds26
Summary: Charlotte Bolton thought she had it all. With good grades, charm, a sarcastic sense of humor, and her best friend Jasper by her side, one might even believe her life seemed perfect. But it wasn't until a certain mystery wrapped up in blond locks and a secret bumped into her that she realized her life had been missing something all along.
1. Chapter 1

Charlotte Bolton stepped through the doors of Swellview High trying to keep her head up as the first day of the second semester started.

Midterms and finals had just passed and the dark-haired girl was still recovering from all the stress and sleep loss. Luckily, she was able to get enough rest the past weekend and relax after undoubtedly acing all her exams.

Charlotte was known to be pretty sociable and outgoing around the school, with her sarcastic humor getting a laugh out of anyone and her ambitious nature when it came to academics. So while she didn't admit it out loud, she wasn't entirely surprised when the student body voted her as class president. Her style also seemed to attract those that her best friend Jasper didn't approve of. She smirked as she walked passed a pair of boys gawking and biting their lips in her direction as her curls bounced in their signature half-up half-down style and her black heeled ankle-boots clicked behind her.

Reaching her locker, she spotted Jasper propped up against it with his arms crossed in front of him, his eyes lowered in a glare.

"Well hello to you, too," Charlotte joked as he nodded his head, his gaze not moving from the boys who remained staring at his best friend.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jasper finally spoke to the boys, moving towards them and gesturing for them to leave. "She's a girl, wow, I know, right? Amazing. Now carry on." The guys nudged each other before walking down the hall, away from Jasper and Charlotte. The curly-haired blond huffed as he went back towards her, who was now laughing after watching in amusement.

"Hey," she complained as he stepped in front of her. "They could've been nice. You can't shoo away everyone. I'm gonna end up alone." Jasper scoffed.

"I'm protecting you," he responded. "Those guys were just a pair of hooligans with a load of testosterone practically waiting to cause trouble. Trust me, you can do better." Charlotte laughed before wrapping an arm around his waist and laying her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Jasper," she said softly. He hummed in response, a smile spreading across his face as he squeezed her back.

The two had been inseparable since kindergarten, quite literally, when they accidentally got their hands glued together. They had been working on some sort of art project; abstract was what she had told him their amateurish art was called. He gave her a high-five after they both finished, confused when the other wouldn't let go. After a brief scolding from their teacher, glue remover, and a lot of soap, there was an instantaneous mutual agreement that they were destined to be best friends.

And so it happened.

The sound of the bell sent the two apart as students began to roam the halls, looking for certain room numbers and trying to find a match with friends.

"What's your first class?" she asked him.

"Uhhh," he drew out as he unfolded his roster. "Pre-calc."

"Me too!" she exclaimed happily. "Let's go."

The pair walked side-by-side through the halls, Charlotte's short black skirt swaying along with her strides and Jasper sending smiles to the girls waving at him. The curly-haired blond had matured nicely after his awkward, bucket-loving phase in middle school, undoubtedly surprising everyone in their grade. He had grown another five inches, much to Charlotte's dismay, and while his love for collecting buckets still thrived, he kept it on the low.

The bell rang again just as Charlotte and Jasper stepped into room 302, and the two sat next to each other in empty desks in the middle of the room.

"Hello, class," a petite, brunette woman spoke as she entered the room. She wore rectangular-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose that seemed to serve no purpose as she inspected the class from above the frame. "I'm Mrs. Johnston. I'll be your pre-calc teacher. Welcome to your second semes-"

Suddenly, a tall, blond-haired boy stumbled into the room, his hair a mop of a mess on his head and his blue flannel shirt buttoned in all the wrong places. Charlotte looked to Jasper and rolled her eyes. _What a great way to start the second semester, delinquent,_ she thought. There were noticeable dark circles tracing underneath his eyes, indicating a lack of sleep, much more than Charlotte thought she lacked during finals week. In fact, he seemed as if he hadn't had proper sleep in a long time. Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity as she watched the boy fumble and adjust the strap to his book bag, running a hand through his hair in embarrassment when he met the eyes of Mrs. Johnston, who stood with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

"What a pleasure to have you joining us," she said, sarcasm dripping from her tongue.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized. His deep, raspy morning voice caused Charlotte to straighten up in surprise. She didn't expect him to sound like that. Then again, she wasn't sure what she was expecting to be honest.

"Mhm. Find a seat." The blond awkwardly nodded before searching the room, then walking over to an empty seat conveniently located across from Charlotte. She couldn't help but stare intriguingly as he walked by, making brief eye contact with his chocolate-brown eyes. She watched as he sat down and rolled up his sleeves, surprisingly revealing very toned and muscular arms and a watch that seemed larger than any she's ever seen before. He pulled out a notebook and a pencil from his book bag and laid them on his desk before letting out a sigh that seemed both of exhaustion and relief.

Charlotte broke out of her trance when she heard Mrs. Johnston's voice raise in volume as she began their lesson. Shaking her head, she rolled up the sleeves to her purple plum-colored sweater before opening to a fresh page in her notebook and beginning to copy the notes displayed on the board.

But she couldn't get her thoughts of the boy out of her head.

 _What could he be doing outside of school?_ she wondered as she tapped her pencil against the side of her forehead. She looked to the boy once again, even though she could only get a glimpse of the side of his face and the back of his head from a few feet away. She could, however, get a good view of his structured jawline, and she couldn't help but admit that despite his rough "I-just-woke-up" look going on, he was very attractive.

That wasn't why she seemed to be drawn to him, though. She had noticed the boy before from her last semester classes, so she knew he had to be fairly intelligent to be in the same ones as her. She just never took the time to _really_ notice him, and now that she had, she couldn't help but want to know _more. Where did he come from?_ she asked herself as he restlessly bounced his leg. _What has him so anxious and tired all the time?_

Before she knew it, the bell rung, signaling that class was over. Charlotte glanced at the clock in shock when she noticed over an hour had already passed. She sighed as she looked down at her notebook, seeing that she had barely taken any notes. Most of the students immediately bustled out of the room, leaving a few left along with herself, Jasper, and the mystery blond.

"C'mon," Jasper nudged her shoulder as he stood up. His expression shifted to one of concern as he noticed the look on her face. "Are you okay, Char? You seem a little out of it."

"What?" she asked suddenly, as if she was just noticing him. He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just tired, I guess." Jasper narrowed his eyes in suspicion as she packed her bag. He could tell she was lying, and while he was about to question her about it, the sudden beeping of a watch was perceived throughout the room. Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she wondered where the noise could be coming from, before eyeing the mysterious blond still in the room hastily try and shut off his watch. She watched as he failed to stop the noise, then hurriedly pick up his books and run out the door.

"Uh, Jasper!" she spoke abruptly, standing up. "I'll meet you in our next class, I just have to go see something."

"We don't even know if we have the same class together!" he called as she scurried to the door, clutching her tote bag.

"Then, lunch!" she called back before she was out of his sight. _Where could she be going?_ he wondered.

Charlotte ran threw the fairly crowded halls as fast as her two feet could carry her, craning her neck among the students around her, attempting to distinguish a lock of blond hair. She repeated "excuse me's" as she bumped and pushed passed people, trying to figure out where he could've went.

Eventually, the bell rang again, signaling that the next class period was in session. She sighed as she realized she was too late to catch him, despite the halls being significantly clearer. Taking one last look down the hall, she turned around and started heading towards her next class which was around the corner down the upcoming hallway.

Suddenly, a boy in the midst of running bumped into her, sending their bags and bodies crashing to the floor. Charlotte had tried to hold on to the boy's shirt in an attempt to steady herself, only causing the boy to land on his back with Charlotte on top of him, tightly gripping his flannel. It was then she recognized the disheveled shirt, plaid blue and wrinkly in all its glory. She peeked up despite the inevitable blush of embarrassment spread across her cheeks, immediately recognizing the boy's face.

"Hi," she breathed. The blond let out a breath of laughter.

"Hi." A look of shock remained on her face until she realized she was still on top of him.

"Oh! Sorry, I'm so sorry," she apologized, getting up and lending him a hand. She was surprised when she felt a shock go up her arm when he grabbed her hand to pull himself up, causing her to quickly retrieve her hand back.

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing," he spoke as he picked up his bag along with hers. "I'm the one who was running." While still fairly deep, his voice had cleared from its previous raspy tone.

"You're in my Pre-Calc class," Charlotte said, immediately regretting it after. _No, duh._

"Yep," he nodded after straightening his shirt. "I recognized you." He smiled warmly down at her, causing her to blush again.

"Well, I actually should be going-"

"Where?" she asked suddenly. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" She mentally slapped her forehead again. _Why are you being so nosy?_

"Uh, yeah," he let out after a moment's hesitation. "I'm heading to my next class."

"Oh." The dark haired girl could detect a lie when she heard one, and she knew he was lying. However, she decided to let it slide and stop interrogating the boy whom she had literally just met.

"Well, uh-" His watch started beeping again, interrupting him.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Nothing," he responded quickly. "I, uh, I have to go." He took off down the hall before she could ask anything else.

"Wait!" she called after him. "Can I at least know your name?"

The blond turned around, taking a look at her. Charlotte felt herself blush at his intense stare, as if he was deciding whether or not she was one to be trusted.. She gulped instinctively, wondering what could be so classified about the boy that he had to be careful with whom he shared his name with. His expression then softened into crinkled eyes and a closed-mouth smile before he finally spoke.

"Henry."

* * *

 **Hey guys! It's been a while! I've had this idea for an AU, and really liked it, so I decided to go for it. xD I've always wondered what it'd be like if Henry hadn't met or been best friends with Charlotte and Jasper since the beginning. :)**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this story! It's going to be a multi-chap, obviously, so I'm going to aim for an update at least every week, but you guys know how bad I am at frequent updates. I promise, though, I'll try my best. :)**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading! Updating (hopefully) soon! xD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Really quickly before the chapter, I just wanted to clear something up from Chapter 1!**

 **In the scene where the three are in the classroom, and I write about "the curly-haired blond narrowed his eyes... (yada yada yada xD) he knew she (Charlotte) was lying"? I meant Jasper knew Charlotte was lying, not Henry! I noticed a few people pointed that out, thinking it was Henry who knew, but I was writing about Jasper. I totally understand why that was interpreted wrong, so apologies on my behalf! I've since edited it, but I just wanted to clear things up if you've already read it. :)**

 **Anyway, here's chapter 2! :)**

* * *

Jasper stood outside Charlotte's front door on her wooden porch, his arms crossed while tapping his foot impatiently. He had received a text from her this morning, asking if he wanted to walk to school together. Of course, he agreed, despite having not heard from her since her disappearance after Pre-Calc the day before.

The door then opened, revealing his best friend dressed in simple jeans and a floral-printed bomber jacket.

"Good morning," she said to him cheerfully, stepping out and locking the door.

" _Good morning_?" he mocked, following her as they treaded off the porch. "Seriously? That's all you have to say?"

"Uhhh," she dragged out, falling in step with him on the sidewalk. "How was your slumber?"

"I hate you."  
"Love you, too."

"Charlotte," the curly-haired blond exasperated.

"Okay, okay," she responded in defeat. "I'm sorry."

"Where did you disappear to? I didn't see you at all after math yesterday." His annoyed expression remained.

"I-"  
"I didn't even see you at lunch! Where were you?"  
"Actually, I-"  
"And after school? You didn't bother to shoot your best friend a text?"  
"Jasper, if you don't shut up, you're never gonna get an answer." Charlotte narrowed her eyes at him as he crossed his arms in frustration.

"You can't blame me for being mad," he replied.  
"I know, and I'm sorry, but at least let me explain." Her sincere words allowed Jasper to release the tension in his shoulders with a sigh.

"Okay. Explain."

"So," she started slowly. "Remember that kid that came into our class late? The blond?"

"Yeah?" he answered, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "What about him?"

"Well," Charlotte lowered her voice. "I don't know, he kind of, just, caught my attention, I guess, and-"

"Oh my God," he interrupted, his arms flailing in the air. "You have a crush on him?! Already?!"

"No! What- Jasper, let me finish!" she defended, ignoring the reddening of her cheeks. He rolled his eyes.

"He just seemed, off, like he's hiding something. It's hard to explain, I just had a gut feeling, okay?" she explained with a sigh. "And then his watch or whatever started beeping and he was going above and beyond trying to shut it off-"

"I know," Jasper said. "I was there."

"Right," she responded. "And then he just ran out of the room."

Jasper raised his eyebrows. "So?"

"So obviously I was curious..." she dragged softly.

"God, Charlotte, you couldn't have just let the kid be?" Jasper exasperated.

"Anyway," she ignored. "I followed him, and he ended up running straight into me."

"Ran into you?" Jasper asked, suddenly defensive.

"He said he was going to his next class," Charlotte went on, "but I know he was lying, Jasper!"

"So," he started. "You essentially blew me off the whole day because you suddenly became intrigued by some guy who's probably just an insomniac and bad at punctuality?" Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Jasper-"  
"Oh, wait," he interrupted. "And with a watch that beeps every hour or so, like any other watch, and if you were paying attention you would've realized it was exactly 9am."  
"Well-"  
"And he probably was just trying to be early for his next class and not late like he was for Pre-Calc, because what other reason would a guy need a watch like that for school?" The sarcasm in his tone was evident, causing Charlotte to feel embarrassed. _Maybe he's right,_ she thought. _Am I taking this too far?_

Jasper sighed. "So, what about after?"

"I actually lost my schedule," she answered honestly. "I guess it fell out when we bumped into each other and I didn't pick it up. I didn't know what my next classes were, so I was running around the whole day trying to figure it out. I went to the office during my actual lunch period to ask for a new one."

"Oh," Jasper responded. "But what about after school?"

"I don't know, I was so tired after all that confusion I guess I, well, forgot?" she said with a cringe. The curly-haired blond nodded, pressing his lips together.

"Please don't be mad," she begged, latching onto his arm as he continued to walk. "I'm really sorry, Jasper." He ignored her, her weight pulling on his arm barely affecting him.

"C'mon, Jasper! I'll make it up to you, I promise." Her efforts still made no response, as Jasper suddenly found interest in the small buildings around them.

"I'll buy you lunch!" she persuaded, still attached to his arm. "We can hang out after school, too. I'll buy you fro-yo." Jasper turned his head away from her more, trying to hide his smile.

"Jasper!" she cried, pulling his arm. "You can't ignore me forever."

"Hmm?" he eventually turned to her. "Oh, sorry, forgot you were there." Charlotte's jaw dropped, though a smile evident in her features from him finally addressing her. Jasper laughed at her expression.

"Ouch," she said, bringing a hand up to her heart.

"Yeah," he replied, nudging her arm. "How does it feel?"

"Alright, I deserved that."  
"Yes, you did."  
"So you forgive me?" He rolled his eyes.  
"I guess." Charlotte grinned, hugging his waist from the side as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"I still want that fro-yo." She laughed.  
"You got it, Jasper."

* * *

Charlotte and Jasper headed for their lockers upon entering the school.

"So," Jasper asked, leaning his back against his locker. "Did you get this guy's name or were you too infatuated with his dreamy brown eyes to ask?" She playfully slapped his arm.

"Shut up," she responded, rolling her eyes as she opened her locker. "I did, actually, thank you very much. His name is-"

The dark-haired girl was turning to face Jasper when she sucked in a breath at the sight of the boy she was just speaking of.

Henry stood tall in front of his locker, fiddling with his combination. He seemed plenty more put together than he did the day before, his blond hair up and intentionally only slightly messy and the sleeves to his grey sweatshirt rolled up to his elbows, showing off his mysterious watch. He wore dark black jeans and a pair of white Vans on his feet as well. Charlotte felt her mouth fall slightly as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Charlotte?" Jasper asked, to which she instantly reacted to with a shriek of surprise.

"Were you just staring at him?" he asked with a smirk.

"Pshhhh, what?" she dragged, her voice raising in pitch as she diverted her attention to her locker. Jasper snickered, causing Charlotte to roll her eyes.

"Was it that noticeable?" she asked half-heartedly. "I'm not trying to creep the guy out."

The curly-haired blond chuckled. "You're fine, but-"

"I just want to get to know him," she went on. "That's all."

"Uh, Char?" Jasper lowered his voice.  
"He already thinks of me as some crazy inquisitive lunatic-"  
"Charlotte."  
"How am I supposed to find-"  
"Charlotte I'm telling you as your best friend to please shut up because he's walking over here."  
"What-?"

"Hey, it's my personal interviewer." Charlotte whipped her head around at the sound of the blond's voice, meeting his brown eyes with her own. He stood looking down at her, his eyes soft and his lips pulled up into a kind smile.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that by the way," she replied, tucking a strand of her curls behind her ear.

"It's okay," Henry responded, adjusting the strap to his book-bag. "Anymore questions?" His tone was sarcastic, nonetheless causing Charlotte to shyly bring her hands up to cover her face.

"God, I'm so embarrassing," she said, her voice muffled under her hands. She heard the blond begin to laugh.

"No, I'm just teasing," he said with a smile. "It was cute, actually."

Charlotte peeked through one of her fingers at the blond towering above her. _Did he just call me cute?_

Suddenly, the sound of Jasper purposely clearing his throat was perceived between the two.

"Oh," Charlotte spoke, removing her hands from her face. "Jasper, this is Henry, Henry, this is my best friend, Jasper."

"Ahh, the best friend," Henry replied, bringing his hand out in front of him.

"Supposedly," Jasper responded jokingly, shaking his hand. "Sometimes I question it, since she tends to forget." Charlotte elbowed the curly-haired blond defensively as Henry chuckled at their banter.

The bell then rung, signaling the students to begin heading to their first periods.

"Well, I gotta go to the office," Charlotte spoke, shutting her locker closed. "I need to pick up another schedule."

"Oh, wait, I forgot," Henry said, pulling a folded piece of paper out from his back pocket. "I guess I accidentally picked this up after I bumped into you yesterday."

"You just saved me a conversation with Principal Burns," Charlotte replied jokingly, reaching out to take the paper. Her fingers brushed his as she took the slip of paper back, his touch lingering on the surface of her skin.

"Thank you." The two smiled at each other, as Jasper watched them with his eyebrows furrowed.

"So, uh," Henry spoke, scratching the back of his neck as the three started walking to Pre-Calc. "I might've peeked at it." Charlotte laughed.

"And I'm the nosy one," she replied smartly. The blond playfully rolled his eyes.

"I saw we have lunch together," he continued.

"Oh, cool!" Charlotte exclaimed. "You can sit with me."

"And me," Jasper intruded. The dark-haired girl glared at her best friend.

"And Jasper," she said. Henry grinned.

* * *

Lunch soon came, and Charlotte and Jasper were sitting by each other at a round table. Jasper's half-eaten pizza hung from his hand, while Charlotte's mac & cheese bowl remained untouched. The dark-haired girl craned her neck as she tried to find Henry in the cafeteria.

"Where is he?" she asked Jasper.

"Maybe he forgot," he replied bluntly, taking another bite of his pizza. Charlotte glared at him, to which he shrugged in response.

"It's possible," he continued. "Once a latecomer, always a latecomer."

"Oh, please," she defended, eyeing the lunch lines. "He was the one who brought up having lunch together."

"Then why isn't he here?" Charlotte's heart sank. He had a point. Lunch was halfway over. The dark-haired girl sighed before finally resorting to her mac & cheese. Jasper watched as his friend's facial features fell, and couldn't help but feel bad.

"Aw, Char," he spoke sincerely, bringing a hand to nudge her shoulder. "It's okay. We're still on for fro-yo, right? I'll pay for you, don't worry about earlier." Charlotte gave him a closed-mouthed smile in response.

Just then, Henry plopped down beside Charlotte with a hoagie tray.

"Sorry, guys," he spoke out of breath. "I was just, uh, handling something."

"Handling what?" Jasper asked bluntly, taking another bite out of his pizza. Henry opened his mouth as if looking for the right words to say as he looked from Jasper to Charlotte. She had her eyebrows raised in question.

"Yeah," Charlotte agreed. "Lunch is halfway over."

"Uhhh," he stammered. "Just a call from work." The blond tried to come off as nonchalant as he bit into his hoagie.

"You have a job?" Charlotte asked, turning towards him.

"Yeah."

"Where?" Henry sighed.

"Junk N' Stuff? It's this old, vintage-y thrift shop a few blocks from my house," he explained with a shrug. "You've probably never heard of it."

"I know what you're talking about," Charlotte said, causing Henry to cringe. "I live near there, too."

"Really?" he replied, his voice reaching a higher octave. "That's so...cool." The blond wore a disappointed expression, but added a thumbs-up for good measure, receiving odd looks from Jasper and Charlotte. Henry cleared his throat.

"Okay," Jasper dragged, his face distorted with confusion. "Anyway." He turned to Charlotte. "I take back what I said about the fro-yo, you still owe me." Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Alright," she replied, then turned to Henry.

"You should come, too, Henry," she told him.

"Yeah," Jasper agreed. "Maybe we can check out where you work after."

"Sure," Henry grinned. Just then, his watch began to beep. The blond groaned, rubbing his forehead with his fingers as if he was soothing a headache, his eyes shut.

"Is that for work?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah," Henry sighed, shutting it off.

"What could a thrift shop need you so often for?" Jasper asked.

"Doesn't your boss know you're in school?" Charlotte added.

"Yeah, but-" The blond was interrupted by his watch beeping again.

"Gah!" he yelled, hastily shutting it off while grabbing his books off the table and abruptly standing up.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked confused.

"I'm sorry," he apologized in a hurry. "I have to go."

"You're just ditching school?" she asked. Henry sighed before heading towards the exit without an answer. Charlotte felt her heart fall.

"But what about fro-yo?" Jasper called after him, standing up from his seat.

"I'll be there!" he shouted back as he flew out the door.

"How can he just skip school?" Charlotte exasperated in disbelief.

"I don't know," Jasper replied. "For 'work'." The hint of sarcasm was noted in his voice.

"Something's up with that boy," she spoke, crossing her arms. Then she added under her breath, "and I'm going to find out."

* * *

 **I know. I suck at updating. I'm sorry. :(**

 **Chapter 2! Again, I know, I suck. I'm sorry for the extremely crappy chapter, and even more sorry at the fact that it was so late. I promise the next one will have more Henry, since this one only had him for a bit. I hope you don't hate me after this. D:**

 **Either way, thank you for reading if you did. :) Updating soon! (Faster than this one, I swear. xD)**


	3. Chapter 3

Henry hastily stumbled out of the elevator into the Man Cave of Junk N' Stuff after running non-stop from school. It took the blond roughly ten minutes, since the distance between school and the shop was just a little over half a mile. He stood panting out of breath, his hands on knees.

"Oh," Ray, his boss, spoke from the couch, his eyes not lifting from his phone. "Hey, kid."

"Oh, please, don't mind me," Henry let out unevenly. "I only just ran half a mile because you rang _in the middle of school._ " He narrowed his eyes at the superhero when Ray finally got up.

"There's a serious gas leak in the Swellview Sewer System," Ray explained, pulling out his pack of gum-balls from his back pocket. "We have to seal it up before it spreads." Henry groaned.

"And you couldn't have done it yourself?" Henry asked annoyed, mimicking Ray and moving to stand by him.

"I need you there in case something happens."  
"Like what?"  
"Like," the brunet paused, failing to find an example. Henry raised his eyebrows.

"Whatever, you're already here!" Ray exclaimed. "Come on." The blond rolled his eyes but proceeded to blow a bubble alongside his boss anyway. After a few chews, Captain Man and Kid Danger were revealed. The pair stepped onto either platforms under the tubes.

"Up the tube!" they shouted in unison, and were swept up and out of the Man Cave.

After quickly reaching the main streets of Swellview, the pair stood above the entrance to the sewage pipes in the middle of the currently blocked road. They both stared at the entrance with reluctance before meeting each other's gaze.

"Not it!" the two spoke, bringing a finger to their noses. However, Henry had done so faster, leaving Ray to step into the sewer first. The blond laughed at his boss as he groaned, prying open the entrance.

"Whatever," Ray spat, throwing rope down the sewer. Henry securely tied an end to a fire hydrant nearby, and Ray began climbing down the rope into the sewer. His face distorted once reaching underground.

"God, it reeks down here," he said. Henry frowned once the stench reached him as well.

"Gross," he dragged, stepping into the tunnel after Ray. "I can't believe I left school for this."

"What are you even learning in school anyway?" Ray asked as the two went down the long rope. "It can't be that important." Henry narrowed his eyes.

"I wouldn't know," he answered. "Maybe if you stopped calling me to work during school I'd actually learn something."

"Ooh, sassy," Ray joked. "Don't worry, we'll get you back to school. Henry checked his watch.

"School's over in less than an hour," he stated obviously.

"Really? Man, you guys are really undereducated." The blond rolled his eyes. The two finally reached the end of the rope, Ray hopping off first with Henry following.

"Alright," Ray spoke while pulling out a map. "The leak is... here." Henry looked over his shoulder at where he pointed. "Which is-" Ray looked up, "this way." He pointed to a path leading towards their left.

"No, I think it's the other way," Henry stated while looking at the map and pointing to the right.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's this way."  
"Are you?"  
"Yes."  
"It literally goes to the right on the map, Ray."  
"No, it doesn't. You're looking at it wrong."  
"No, you are."  
"It's going left, kid. Don't they teach you these things in school?"  
"Yes- no, Ray, the leak is that way!"  
"No it's not!"  
"Yes it-"  
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Ray yelled, stuffing the map back into his pocket. "Let's just go opposite ways. Whoever finds it can holler at the other."

"Fine," Henry agreed. The two took off in their own paths. About a minute later, the blond yelled to Ray.

"Found it," he announced, coughing at the odor of the gas. Ray let out a swear, causing Henry to chuckle.

"Told you," he said to his boss after meeting him in front of the leak. Ray mocked Henry, clearly offended.

"Alright, let's just get this over with," he muttered.

After about twenty minutes, the leak was sealed with a new set of bricks and cement.

"Good work, kid," Ray said after wiping his forehead.

"Can we go now?" Henry replied impatiently, dusting the dirt off his suit.

"Alright, alright," Ray told his sidekick. "Don't get your panties in a twist." The blond rolled his eyes at his boss's remark, setting off back to the entrance of the sewer.

"Why are you in such a hurry, anyway?" Ray asked, treading behind him. "Isn't school over?"

"I'm supposed to meet some friends in-" Henry looked at his watch, "-half an hour." Ray scoffed.

"You have friends?" Ray asked doubtfully. Henry stopped to turn and face his boss, narrowing his eyes at him, to which the brunet raised his hands in defense.

"My bad," he responded with a chuckle. "I just didn't know that you had time for stuff like that since you're always here."

"Well, surprise," Henry said sarcastically. "I made friends."

"What're their names?" Ray asked.  
"Charlotte and Jasper."  
"Ooh, Charlotte's a girl's name," Ray teased. Henry rolled his eyes.

"A really cool girl's name," Henry continued. "So don't mess this up for me."

"Okay, geez," Ray spoke as they reached the entrance. "You're no fun when you're moody." Henry scoffed as he gripped the rope, climbing back up. Ray did the same shortly after.

"If you're gonna complain about me being moody, maybe you should-" The blond's sentence was interrupted with a scream as the rope's knot untied and the two came crashing back down onto the ground. They loudly groaned in pain, Henry sprawled out over Ray.

"Ow!" Ray cried. "Get off me!"  
"Oh, shush, you're indestructible!" Henry responded, slowly standing up. The blond rubbed his arm, wincing in pain.

"Aw, man!" Ray exasperated, lifting the fallen rope from the ground. "The knot loosened off the fire hydrant!"

"N-n-n-n-no," Henry spoke hastily, taking the rope from Ray. "J-just, just throw it back up!" Ray narrowed his eyes at the blond.

"Yeah, I'll just throw this rope up fifty feet with my elastic arm and it'll just magically tie onto something above." The sarcasm was evident in the hero's voice. Henry pressed his fingers against his temples as if he was soothing a headache before pacing around the small area.

"No, we _can't_ be stuck down here," he grumbled, checking his watch. "I'm gonna miss fro-yo!"

"Well, until someone realizes," Ray answered, "we're stuck down here." Henry groaned.

"Help!" the blond shouted hopelessly up towards the entrance. "Hello? Is anyone up there?"

"Kid Danger got us stuck here!" Ray yelled, earning a glare from his sidekick. "Not Captain Man!"

"I'm glad you have your ego intact in this situation, Ray," Henry spoke sarcastically.

"Thanks."

The pair continued shouting up towards the surface, trying to catch someone's attention. Eventually, they grew tiresome and sat on the ground against the wall. Almost half an hour had passed until someone had heard them.

"Hello?" a girl's voice echoed from the entrance. "Is someone down there?" Henry perked up, recognizing the voice, then sprawled to his feet.

"Maybe you're just hearing things," he heard a boy say. Ray widened his eyes and stood up, too.

"No!" he called. "You're not hearing things! We're stuck down here!"

"Is that Captain Man?!" Jasper exclaimed. Charlotte gasped.

"Captain Man!" she called. "Are you okay?"

"And Kid Danger," Henry noted matter-of-factly, "and yes, we are. Can you get help?" He heard Charlotte gasp again and whisper to Jasper.

"Jasper, it's Kid Danger!" she exclaimed. Henry smiled to himself.

"Uh, yeah!" she called back. "We'll get help!" Charlotte and Jasper went out of sight, but arrived back shortly with an officer and rope. The three securely tied the rope to a sign above, then threw the rope down the sewer.

"We're holding on!" the officer shouted to them. "You guys can come up!"

Ray climbed up the rope, with Henry following behind him. After a few minutes, the two were back up and on the surface.

"Yes!" they cheered, high-fiving each other.

"Sorry for taking so long, Captain Man and Kid Danger," the officer apologized.

"It's alright," Ray replied. "But we have to thank these two!" He addressed Charlotte and Jasper, who were grinning in glee. Henry chuckled at Jasper, who was especially awestruck.

"Yeah," Henry spoke, stepping over towards them, then, glancing at Charlotte, "thank you." The dark-haired girl blushed.

"Can we get your names?" Ray asked them.

"I'm Jasper!" the curly-haired blond announced with a grin. Charlotte nudged him in embarrassment, his grin falling short.

"Charlotte," she spoke shyly. Henry smiled. Ray raised his eyebrows when he saw the blond's expression.

"Well," Captain Man started, patting Henry's back. "Kid Danger and I need to get back to our headquarters."

"Aww," Henry, Jasper, and Charlotte whined. Ray furrowed his eyebrows at the blond, who reluctantly agreed.

"Thanks again!" Captain Man said once more. Jasper and Charlotte smiled while the officer nodded. Henry watched as they strode away.

"Looks like you'd have a better chance with Kid Danger than that Henry guy," Jasper joked to Charlotte who glared at him in response.

"I can't believe he didn't show up," she said sadly. Henry felt his heart sink. Jasper supportively wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and the two best friends walked away.

Henry couldn't help but feel disappointed as he turned back to Ray, who was staring at him with his jaw dropped and set in a smile.

"No way!" he exclaimed. "Those guys were your friends? And that was the girl?" Ray hopped cheerfully, poking his sidekick teasingly. "I knew it! You two were all blush-y when you talked." Henry sighed.

"They _were_ gonna be my friends," the blond said solemnly. "They probably hate my guts right now." Ray's grin instantly faded.

"Oh," he realized, bringing a hand to Henry's shoulder. "I'm really sorry, kid." He shrugged.

"It's not your fault," Henry replied. "I guess you can't really be Kid Danger and a regular kid at the same time." Ray frowned, guilt enveloping him.

"Well," he started after a moment. "At least you know she likes Kid Danger." Henry chuckled.

"Yeah! She totally digs you, kid," Ray said. Henry jokingly popped his invisible collar. The pair laughed as they headed off back to the Man Cave.

The two arrived back down the tubes of Junk N' Stuff after a brief trip and changed back into their normal attire.

"Alright, kid," Ray began, plopping down onto the couch. "I owe it to you."

"What do you mean?" the blond asked, sitting down next to him.

"I'll stop calling you during school." Henry raised his eyebrows in shock.

"Seriously?" he asked. "But what if there's an emergency?"

"Eh, I'll deal on my own," he replied. "I've been doing it for years before you came along." The blond shrugged.

"Are you sure?" he asked once more. Ray nodded.

"And," his boss continued, reaching into his back pocket. "Here." He held twenty dollars between his two fingers.

"What's this for?" Henry asked.

"Buy them food," Ray answered. "It'll be your way of making it up to them."

"I don't know if that'll work," Henry spoke doubtfully. "They probably think I'm a-"

"Oh, hush, everyone likes food," Ray said. The blond nodded.

"True." Henry graciously took the money from his boss.

"Thank you, Ray," he said thoughtfully. "This really means a lot-"

"Alright, alright, don't get all sappy," Ray interrupted. Henry chuckled.

"Now, go home kid, don't you have school tomorrow?" The blond grinned, then stood up and headed towards the elevator.

"See you tomorrow, Ray!" he called to his boss. The brunet smiled as his sidekick took off home.

* * *

 **Chapter 3! Sorry again for the late updates, I should probably stop making promises I can't keep. :/**

 **So we got to see Henry's side of things. I got the scenario from the latest episode, Gas or Fail. It's obviously a lot different from what actually happened, but it did give me this idea haha.**

 **Don't worry, more Chenry will be coming your way sooner than you think. ;) xD**

 **Thanks for reading! Updating asap!**


	4. Chapter 4

_"Following up from this weekend's news of a robbery downtown, Captain Man and Kid Danger have released new information on the suspects involved. This past week, there have been several consecutive cases of robberies in Swellview, starting with the bakery downtown. It has since moved to the jewelry store, where last night the pair of thieves escaped with over $10,000 in stolen jewelry, leaving the glass window of the store shattered and injuring the night shift worker. Captain Man and Kid Danger have since tried to capture the burglars, with no luck. However, new information states they have been trying to figure out the robbers' plan and motives. The question now is, where will the thieves strike next?"_

"Wow," Jasper spoke, hovering over Charlotte's shoulder. The dark-haired girl shook her head after watching the news report on her Pear phone before slipping it into the pocket of her floral romper.

"Another robbery?" Charlotte replied to Jasper as he retrieved books from his locker. "Swellview's gonna be broke if Captain Man and Kid Danger don't find them soon." The curly-haired blond chuckled.

"Yeah, they-" Jasper looked up to see Henry behind them. He nodded in his direction to Charlotte, raising his eyebrows. She turned around to see the blond at his locker wearing a maroon crewneck sweater with the sleeves rolled up, exposing his toned arms and-

 _No._ Charlotte turned back around to her locker, shaking her head.

"You okay?" Jasper asked softly, a look of concern on his face. She let out a small smile before shutting her locker closed.

"Yeah," she sighed, crossing the opening of her beige knitted cardigan over and bringing her books to her chest. "I mean, it's kind of my fault, when you look at it."

"Don't blame this on yourself," Jasper said sternly.

"But I expected him to be some mysterious, crazy guy. I thought he was different," she went on. "And I was way over my head. He's probably just a regular guy struggling with an after school job." Jasper nodded.

"And there's nothing wrong with that," Charlotte continued. "I just became intrigued with someone else, and that's clearly not him."

"So," Jasper dragged. "You're _not_ into him?" Charlotte sighed.

"It's just a silly crush," she admitted, and Jasper let out a breath he was holding. "It'll go away." He cleared his throat, stuffing his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

"Right," he concluded. "So you're okay?" Charlotte smiled.

"I'm okay."

"You sure?" She laughed.

"Yes, Jasper, I'm sure."

"Good, so now I can say I told you so." She rolled her eyes.

"Alright, I admit, you were-"

"Right?" She glared at him as he pretended to pop the nonexistent collar of his grey hoodie.

"Yes. You were right." Jasper folded his arms in front of his chest, an arrogant smirk spread across his face.

"I know." The two chuckled before a certain blond approached them.

"Hey, guys," Henry spoke nervously. Jasper leaned his back against the lockers, raising his eyebrows at the blond while Charlotte looked down to the ground, pretending to find an interest in her black flats. Henry audibly sighed.

"Look, I get you guys are probably mad at me," he started, scratching the back of his neck. "And I deserve it. I'm really sorry I didn't make it to fro-yo on Friday, I got stuck at work and-"

"Yeah, yeah, work this, work that," Jasper interrupted annoyedly. "Anything else you got going for ya?"

"Uh," Henry stuttered awkwardly. "No?" Jasper scoffed.

"You could've called," Charlotte spoke suddenly, her voice soft. "Or texted. We exchanged numbers, you know." Henry mentally slapped his forehead.

"Oh, right, God, I forgot," he replied, running a hand through his hair. "That would've been the smart thing to do."

"Yeah," Jasper said matter-of-factly. Charlotte gave him a look, letting him know to dial the angry interjection down.

"I'm sorry," Henry apologized, his expression and voice sincere. "And I know this is a lame attempt at an apology, but-" he brought a bag of donuts that he was holding with his other hand out from behind him- "I bought you guys donuts with the money I earned from working Friday." Jasper lit up, his eyes widening, while Charlotte allowed a small smile to creep onto her face.

"I really hope you guys like donuts," Henry spoke through the silence. "'Cause then this would be pretty awk-"

"Is there a chocolate frosted one?" Jasper asked eagerly. Henry smiled, handing him the bag with a nod. The curly-haired blond happily took the bag of donuts from Henry, opening it up before meeting Charlotte's shocked expression.

"Oh, uh," Jasper started after taking a bite out of a donut. He cleared his throat. "It's going to take a lot more than _donuts,_ Hart."

"Right," Henry replied. "How about lunch, then? After school, I mean." Jasper narrowed his eyes as if he was deciding whether his offer was worthy or not.

"I'll pay," the blond added. Jasper looked to Charlotte with his eyebrows raised.

"I think it's a good deal," he said to his best friend. Charlotte finally laughed, ending the tension between the group.

"Yes," she agreed, meeting Henry's eyes. "I think it's a great idea." The two smiled.

"Oh, wait!" Jasper exclaimed suddenly. "I have robotics after school."

"Aw, man," Henry replied. "I don't know if I'll get off work again soon." There were a few moments of silence before Charlotte spoke.

"I'll still go," she said confidently, crossing her arms. "It's about time we got to know each other, Henry Hart." The blond grinned.

"I couldn't agree more," he replied. "Are you okay with this, Jasper? I'm sure we'll get to hang out sooner or later." Jasper cleared his throat, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"Yeah," he answered. "Totally." Henry nodded at him with a smile before turning back to Charlotte.

"So it's a date?" Charlotte looked up at the blond's question in surprise, a hesitant smile sneaking onto her lips.

"It's a date." Henry smiled down at her while she laughed against the locker, hiding her giddiness and refusing to let go of her confident disposition by uncrossing her arms in front of her chest.

"A date?" Jasper whispered to himself, inaudible to the pair. He watched the two's exchange with narrowed eyes which soon fell into a look of concern. He huffed before loudly crumpling the bag of donuts to seal it after retrieving one last glazed donut, earning their attention. They watched as he angrily took a bite out of it.

"What?" he asked defensively, just as the bell rung, signaling the call to class.

"I gotta go," he grumbled, then treaded away down the hall. Henry chuckled as he and Charlotte watched Jasper go.

"What was that about?" he asked, pointing in Jasper's direction. Charlotte watched her best friend's retreading figure in confusion, her eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know."

* * *

The last bell of the day rang, and all the students at Swellview High swarmed out the classroom doors. Charlotte, in her last period AP Government class, took a deep breath before standing up.

 _Don't freak out,_ she told herself. _It's just a date._

 _Date_. The word itself sent a smile across her face. Would it be embarrassing if the student body knew their most admirable student had never been on an actual date before? Well, unless you count that _one_ time with Jasper when they went to the seventh grade dance together, but that was only because neither of them had dates. It was more of a friend thing, anyway.

Charlotte stepped out of class, a smile still clearly evident on her face. As she walked to her locker, a thought sprung to her. _What if he forgot? Or got called into work again?_ Her smile faded. At this point, she had learned not to get her hopes up when it came to the blond. He had shown to be quite unreliable in the short time they had known each other. The dark-haired girl sighed before taking out her phone to text Jasper. She looked down at her phone as she walked the rest of the way to her locker.

 _hey jasp, don't think Henry's coming, gonna go home. call me after robotics._

Her thumb hovered over the _Send_ button as she went to press it before she was met with a pair of black Sk8 Hi Vans facing her. Charlotte looked up to meet Henry's gaze, his eyes crinkled from the smile on his face.

"Hi, Charlotte," he said to her. She looked up at him in shock, to which he chuckled at in reply.

"You really didn't expect me to come, huh?" he asked jokingly, leaning his shoulder against the lockers. A blush of embarrassment spread across the petite girl's cheeks as she turned to her locker, hiding the grin on her face.

"Let's just say my expectations weren't too high," she replied, opening up her locker after slipping her phone back into her pocket.

"Ouch," he responded, faking hurt by placing a hand to his chest. Charlotte laughed through her nose.

"Well, I am determined to prove you wrong today," he spoke as she turned to him after finishing up at her locker.

"In what way?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

"In every way until you decide I'm not a complete waste of time," he replied. The two began walking towards the exit. "Like the rest of the school probably does."

"Ooh," Charlotte responded. "See, I have a curfew that doesn't last until the next few years, so..." Henry's jaw dropped, a smile still evident in his features.

"It's gonna take _that_ long for me to impress you?" he exasperated, holding the door for her. Charlotte laughed.

"Eh," she shrugged. "More or less." Henry playfully rolled his eyes as the two left the school and began walking down the sidewalk.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Charlotte asked. "You didn't really specify." Their steps fell in sync as they continued walking.

"I was thinking the Swell Café?" Henry answered nervously. "'Cause they have really good cupcakes there, and coffee is half off on Monday's- not to seem like a cheapskate or anything, but as long as you're okay with that-" Henry stopped once he heard Charlotte burst out laughing.

"What?" he asked.

"You're seriously a dork." Henry felt his face grow warm, embarrassed.

"But it's a cute look on you." She grinned up at him after her remark before skipping ahead of him, earning a smile from the blond.

"Really?" he asked, jogging to catch up to her.

"Yeah, see, from first glance you just seem like the average dull-witted jock," she replied as Henry's mouth fell agape.

"Seriously?"

"But," Charlotte continued. "Instead you've shown to be slightly neurotic and not have a stale sense of humor, so that's one point for you." Charlotte laughed as Henry shook his head, his lips pressed into a tight smile.

"Besides," Charlotte spoke. "You think I don't know about Swell Café? I've lived here my whole life, Henry. I know what's around."

"I guess you're right," the blond responded. "Would've saved myself from that whole embarrassing ramble."

"Yeah," Charlotte agreed. "But it was amusing to see you so flustered." She grinned cheekily up at him, prompting the blond to roll his eyes.

"Well," he started as they turned to the entrance of Swell Café. "We're here, your highness." Henry dramatically held the door open for her, to which Charlotte sarcastically brought her hands up to her chest.

"A gentleman," she answered impressed, stepping through the door. " _Two_ points for Hart."

"Yeah, how's that for an average dull-witted jock?" he joked. Charlotte restrained from rolling her eyes as she walked up in front of the counter and greeted the cashier. The dark-haired girl ordered a caramel frappe while the blond solely asked for black coffee.

"Black coffee?" Charlotte questioned in surprise. "Isn't that a little too strong for a sixteen-year-old boy?" Henry shrugged.

"Probably." Charlotte's previous playful spirit vanished as her eyebrows furrowed in concern. She had almost forgotten about the reason she became so intrigued in the blond in the first place. She looked up at the tall boy by her side, noticing that the bags under his eyes were less visible than they were when she had first met him. Henry looked down, realizing how concerning he may have sounded, though it was typical of him to have to resort to immense amounts of caffeine to stay awake in school after long nights as Kid Danger.

"Oh, I was just kidding," he followed up quickly, handing the cashier the money. "I just like my coffee strong. It asserts my...manliness." Charlotte couldn't help but snicker.

" _Asserts your manliness?_ " she repeated in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, no, I'm completely serious."

"You just got down to negative three points."

"What? I lost five points?"

"Yep. It was that horrible."

"Oh, come on."

"Nope."

The two laughed as they went to sit down by a table near the window after the cashier alerted them that their order would be out soon.

"So, Henry Hart," Charlotte asked, plopping her chin into the palm of her hand as her elbow leaned atop the table. "Tell me the story."

"The story?" he repeated. "What story?"

"Your story," she answered as if it was obvious. Henry narrowed his eyes, still confused, earning a glare from the petite girl across from him.

"Tell me about yourself," she explained monotonously. "Gosh, you took all the fun out of it."

"Oh," he dragged out. "Gotcha." Just then, the cashier rang up their order, and he stood up to get their drinks.

"Well," he started, handing Charlotte her drink before sitting back down. "What do you want to know?"

"I already know you tell horrible jokes, work unreasonable hours at Junk 'N Stuff, and think black coffee is somehow manly," she replied jokingly as Henry chuckled. "Tell me the stuff you write down in those "get to know me" first-day-of-school worksheets. But jazz it up."

"Jazz it up?"

"Yeah. Don't make me fall asleep," she answered. "Ooh! And you have sixty seconds."

"Damn, I guess the pressure's on, then," Henry spoke. Charlotte took a sip of her frappe through the straw, her eyebrows raised.

"Okay, okay," he said before taking a sip of his coffee. "Uh, alright, well I live down there-" he pointed out the window. "-a few blocks from here. My dad's a business guy, so he's out of town sometimes. I don't really do many other school activities since I'm always working."

"Yeah, crazy job, that's a later question. Thirty seconds," Charlotte spoke.

"Um- okay, uhhh- goddamn this is hard- uh, I like basketball? Kind of, I coached my little sister's team once- oh yeah! I have a ten-year-old sister. She's mean, annoying, and vicious; I think you two would get along quite nicely."

"I'd love to meet her," Charlotte smiled sarcastically. "Ten seconds."

"Okay, uh, sometimes I make chili balls for my family, I like to watch _Good Wife_ \- great show by the way, super underrated- vanilla's the best flavor of ice cream _ever_ and I probably know the answer to every question you might have about Puerto Rico." Henry gulped down some more of his coffee after becoming slightly out of breath.

"Puerto Rico?" Charlotte repeated, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why-"

"Don't ask." Charlotte raised her hands up defensively in response.

"Alright, alright, impressive," she remarked. Henry leaned back in his chair with a smirk.

"'Tis the magnificent tale of Henry Hart," he replied arrogantly. "Now I think it's your turn." Charlotte smiled.

"Okay," she responded. "Uh, well you already know my best friend's Jasper. We've been best friends since kindergarten, which is a funny story, actually-"

"Fifty seconds," Henry interrupted.

"You're giving _me_ a timer?"

"Yeah?"

"You can't-"

"Double standards, much?" The blond accused as Charlotte glared at him from across the table. "Forty-five seconds."

"Fine," she replied harshly. "Well, I got accepted into the Language, Information, and Mathematics Program-"

"Ooh, LIMP? I've heard of-"

"They don't call it that!" she exclaimed defensively. Henry raised his eyebrows in shock.

"Okay, sheesh," he replied. "Thirty seconds."

"Uh, I live down there, too, we just probably never saw each other. So does Jasper. Hmm, ooh, I have a pet goldfish named Nemo- which is my favorite movie, by the way. And... ugh, I hate pickles. But I love Oreos, just the cream part though."

"The cookie part is better," Henry interrupted.

"Oh, you're _so_ wrong."

"Am I?"

"Very."

"Five seconds. Big finale!" Henry cheered.

"Umm, oh! One day I am going to be the President of the United States," Charlotte said matter-of-factly.

"Wow, President, huh?"

"Yup. Beat that, Hart. I just got fifty points."

"You can't give yourself points."

"Says who? _I_ made the game."

"When did this become a game?"

"I don't know." The two started laughing before Henry's watch started beeping. Charlotte groaned.

"Again?" she asked. "I thought you said you were off work today?"

"Yeah, uh," Henry scratched the back of his neck, looking for an excuse. "Guess something must've came up."

"Well," Charlotte got up, stepping towards the already-standing blond. "It's been fun, Hart." Henry grinned.

"So, what do you think?" he asked with a smile. "Am I waste of time?" Charlotte brought a finger to her chin and looked up, pretending to ponder the blond's question. Henry groaned in disbelief, causing the dark-haired girl to laugh.

"Not completely," she answered. Henry pressed his lips together and nodded as she continued to laugh.

"I'll take what I can get," he responded with a shrug. The two smiled at each other when suddenly a man hastily walked past them to exit the café, pushing Charlotte in the process. The dark-haired girl tripped over the leg of the table, falling forward. She internally cursed herself in those short moments preceding a face-plant with the floor, imagining Tyra Banks shouting _"we were rooting for you!"_ at her.

To her surprise, her nightmare was averted as she felt the strong arms of the blond in front of her wrap around her waist and forearms, steadying herself. The two were met face-to-face, eyes wide in shock.

"I've got you," he breathed instinctively. Charlotte remained silent for a few moments before laughing through her nose at the sincerity of his words.

"Thanks, but I would've been okay either way," she replied, ignoring the racing of her heart and hoping to God that he couldn't feel her pulse from how close they were. Henry smiled and shook his head before pulling both of them upright.

"The hard, wooden floor speaks otherwise," he argued. Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"You're right," she responded sarcastically. "My hero." Henry grinned cheekily, causing her to roll her eyes again at his ridiculously adorable antics.

"Don't you have a job to get to?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest with a smirk.

"Oh, right," he replied abruptly. "I gotta-"

"Go," she told the boy, shaking her head. Henry smiled, walking backwards towards the door.

"I think that saving you thing earned me a few more points," he called to her.

"Eh," she called back. "Three max."

"Seriously?!"

"Go to work!"

"I am!"

Henry took off down the street to Junk 'N Stuff as Charlotte stood watching his retreading figure, her arms crossed with a smile on her face.

 _You're alright, Henry Hart._

* * *

 **AHHH CHAPTER FOUR HOORAH**

 **ANDDDD IT'S TWO AM WOO IM SO GREAT AT CONSISTENT UPDATES AND TIME MANAGEMENT**

 **Kidding. Not the 2am part, the being consistent part. It's actually 2am. Very typical for me. xD**

 **But yay chapter 4! Super super super sorry for the super late update, feel free to yell at me in the comments. I won't get mad, I promise, I deserve it. :P**

 **Nonetheless, I really hope you enjoyed! Despite it taking so long and my current time situation xD, this took me quite a while to write. I was really excited to write this chapter and didn't want to put out something half-assed but consistent with time, you know? (Who am I kidding I have no comprehension of the words** _ **consistent**_ **and** _ **time**_ **in the same sentence) xD Still, I really really really hope you enjoyed! If not, let me know! I didn't realize that I've never said this before but constructive criticism is always greatly appreciated! I'm always looking for ways to become a better writer. :)**

 **As always, thank you so much for reading! I'm really glad if you stuck around to keep up with my stories even though you have to deal with my inconsistency. (And I think I've run out of times to say** _ **consistent**_ **since 1:45am I really should be going to bed haha)**

 **Updating asap! (More or less xD)**


	5. Chapter 5

_"This just in: new information on the robberies across Swellview. Last night, the two men hit yet another Swellview store on Market Street at around 2:30am. The Department Store of Swellview was robbed of an estimated $15,000. The victim, an employee, was held at gunpoint, a tactic never to have been performed by them before. Fortunately, Captain Man and Kid Danger arrived at the scene, saving the employee from fatality. However, they were, once again, not able to catch the robbers. Our town heroes still refuse to let out any other information in regards to the robbers' motives or even what the evil duo go by, claiming it is best for the city to not know and not panic at this moment in time. The robbers continue to bring danger to Swellview while taking thousands of dollars out of the town's pocket. Will Captain Man and Kid Danger ever catch the malicious men, or will they be their most regretted villains to have slipped from their fingers?"_

* * *

Henry got up that morning to go to school the happiest he had been in a while. Despite arriving home at 4am the previous night, he made sure to be on time and (mostly) awake during his classes. His hair was surprisingly combed today, along with his red and black plaid shirt being (again, mostly) free of wrinkles and his black jeans clean.

Of course, being attentive in class and dressing put-together doesn't _just happen_ without sleep. Or, in Henry's case, without caffeine. The blond had made sure to pick up a large, black coffee at Swell Café on his way to school. After downing the whole thing before first period, he was surprised at how well it had worked for him. Four classes later, and he was still the most alert he had been in school since becoming Kid Danger. Besides the slight jittery effect from the caffeine on his body (seriously, his leg had been bouncing all day), Henry thought his new 'no-sleep more-caffeine' agenda could work.

Who needs sleep, anyway?

As Henry walked through the halls during fifth period Study Hall, he decided to head up to the library. _Maybe I'll actually do homework today,_ the blond thought. He had also been looking for Charlotte throughout the day. He hadn't spoken to her face-to-face since their café date, the memory bringing a smile to his face.

Naturally, he hadn't been able to shake her image from his head. The thought of the girl alone always brought him out of a bad mood, so the thought of her actually being with _him?_ Henry wondered what other thing in the universe could surpass the idea.

He couldn't pretend he never thought about it. Holding her hand through the halls, walking her to class, _kissing her._

 _That_ thought came up quite often.

Henry shook his head from his thoughts as he entered the school library, scanning the room for Jasper or Charlotte _,_ until, undoubtedly, he spotted the dark-haired girl sitting at an otherwise unoccupied table. He couldn't help but smile at the scene; her nose in her AP Government and Law textbook, her head leaning against the knuckles of her head, deep in concentration. His eyes immediately went to her face, surprised to see a pair of black-framed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. He had never imagined or saw her in glasses before, but they had just recently started hanging out, so no one was to blame. Her hair was tied back into a low ponytail with two strands of her curls framing either side of her face, a hairstyle he had never saw on her nor believed could make her seem even _prettier_. She wore a black sweater that exposed one of her shoulders that he couldn't help but wonder how would feel against his lips and he seriously hoped she hadn't looked up from her book.

She hadn't. Henry breathed out a sigh of relief.

Textbooks, pencils, highlighters, basically any supplies one could imagine a studious girl would carry, laid out on the table in front of her. Henry adjusted his posture and the strap of his book-bag over his shoulder before walking over to her. He now stood behind her, leaning over her slightly, but her eyes remained glued to her book. Surprised that she hadn't noticed the presence of someone behind her, he pressed his hands against the back of her chair. When she still didn't respond, he finally decided to call out her name.

"Charlotte," he spoke. The dark-haired girl visibly flinched in surprise, looking up to see the blond towering above her.

"Oh," she replied, catching her breath. "It's just you."

"Just me?" he repeated jokingly, pulling out a chair from the table and sitting down next to her. "Gee, thanks." Charlotte let out a laugh.

"No, I was just surprised," she explained, moving to face him. "My surroundings kind of become nonexistent after I open up this book." She gestured to her government textbook.

"Do you have a test or something?" Henry asked.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I think I'm pretty prepared, though. I just thought I'd review a little since I won't have time later. AP Gov is right after Chemistry, and God knows I can't be distracted in Chemistry." Henry chuckled.

"Where's Jasper?" he asked. "I haven't seen him all day."

"Then you must not have been paying attention to your surroundings either," she laughed. "We were both there with you in Pre-Calc this morning."

"Oh," Henry spoke, scratching the back of his neck. Charlotte laughed at his nervousness.

"It's okay, we know how distracting we are," she joked. "It looked like you were really paying attention today, Mr. Highlighter Happy." Henry looked down as he laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"I'm trying to be a better student, okay?" he answered in defense. Charlotte laughed before looking up at him. She noticed his dark circles were back and more prominent, although she didn't realize when they had actually left.

"Work taking up your sleep again?" she asked suddenly. Henry looked up to realize she had been looking at him.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," he replied. _It never really stopped,_ he thought. But she didn't know. She watched as he shuffled a bit in his seat, his leg beginning to bounce restlessly.

"Are you okay, Henry?" Charlotte asked, wearing a concerned expression. "You seem anxious." Henry looked up suddenly.

"Yeah," he answered. "Why wouldn't I be?" His defensive tone was noted as Charlotte raised her eyebrows.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly. "You're right, I am kind of tired."

"Why don't you change your hours at work?" she asked. "Working late obviously isn't good for you."

"I can't," he replied. "I'm one of two employees." Charlotte scoffed.

"Well, if you're working at a store that only requires two employees, maybe you shouldn't be working there at all." Henry let out a sigh, suddenly wanting to be able to tell her everything.

"I have to work, Charlotte," he replied simply.

"Why?" Henry looked down. _Because I'm Kid Danger._

After a moment, he answered, "Why else? Doesn't every other kid in high school work for the money?" Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Money shouldn't be coming before your health," she stated. Henry didn't reply. What else could he say? Charlotte sighed after he didn't say anything.

"But I guess I should be thanking you," she said.

"Thanking me?" he repeated. "For what, exactly?"

"You inspired me," she answered. "I thought, 'if Henry can get a job while still in school, so can I.'" Henry raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

"I got a job," she said as if it was obvious. Henry widened his eyes.

"What the hell?" he said abruptly. "Where?"

"Swell Café," she answered calmly, contrary to his raising voice. "Thanks for taking me there again, by the way."

"Why are you working there?" he pressed.

"Why else? Doesn't every other kid in high school work for the money?" she mocked him, causing the blond to roll his eyes. "Plus, the coffee there is really good. I could use a discount." Henry audibly sucked his teeth.

"Seriously, Char, you don't need a job. You do school! You're a student! You should focus on that," he replied, shaking his head. "You don't need a job." Charlotte laughed.

"Didn't know you were my mom," she responded smartly, turning back to her book.

"Charlotte," he said sternly. "You don't need to get a job because of me. I've been working at Junk 'N Stuff since I was _thirteen._ I don't want to leave because it means something to me."

"Swell Café means something to me," she answered. "I really like vanilla lattes." Henry rolled his eyes again.

"You know what's been going on in Swellview lately? All the robberies?" he mentioned. "Doesn't that worry you?"

"Should it?"  
"Ye-!"  
"Does it worry you?" Henry fell silent, looking for a response.

"Of course it does," he finally answered. "But I- I can't just quit."

"Ditto," she responded, flipping a page in her book. Henry groaned.

"You just started working there!"  
"Exactly."  
"Why can't you quit?"  
"Now, what kind of person would I seem like if I quit my first day?" she asked while turning to face him, her eyebrows raised. Henry sighed.

"A quitter," Charlotte answered her own question while Henry rolled his eyes. "And I'm not a quitter, Henry." She turned back to her textbook, leaving Henry disappointed.

"You sure aren't, Char," he admitted with a sigh. Charlotte felt her heart flutter at the nickname coming from the blond.

"Can I at least see your work schedule, then?" Henry asked suddenly.

"For what?"

"Um," he began. "So I can know when you're free. To hang out." Charlotte smiled, her eyes not leaving the page.

"Is that why you were so upset about me getting a job?" she asked, still smiling. "'Cause you didn't know if we'd be able to hang out again?" Henry's eyes widened.

"Uh, yes!" he responded, then cleared his throat. "I mean, yeah. You caught me." He raised his hands in defense, his lips tilted in a smile while Charlotte laughed. Henry mentally slapped his forehead. _Great excuse, Henry. You suck as a human being._

"You sure are something, Hart." Charlotte looked up from her textbook to meet the blond's brown eyes, who was currently mentally panicking. _You have no idea._ He sent her a sheepish smile in return. _Where's Jasper when you need him?_

As if reading his mind, the curly-haired blond hastily entered the library, earning a glare from the librarian, a petite old woman who clearly did not belong in a high school library.

"Jasper!" Charlotte called to her best friend, gesturing him to come towards their table. Jasper scurried over, seemingly out of breath, as Henry took the chance to pinch the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Hey, guys," he spoke, plopping onto a seat next to Charlotte on the other side of the table.

"Why are you out of breath?" Henry asked.

"I was running around school getting parts for our robot," he explained through the shortness of his breath. "We were working on it during most of study hall since our competition's pretty soon."

"I can't wait to see it in action," Charlotte told him. "I really wanted to join robotics this year, but being class president is too time consuming."

"Another reason for you to quit your job," Henry trailed off, looking up innocently. Charlotte glared at him.

"I'm not quitting," she replied sternly.

"Jasper, did you know about this?" Henry asked. "That she got a job at Swell Café?"

"Well, yeah," Jasper responded. "Of course."

"And you think this is a good idea?"  
"I mean, I don't see why not." Henry groaned.

"But don't you think she's busy enough? She literally just said being class president is too time consuming, and obviously she wants to keep getting straight A's." Jasper looked to Charlotte in confusion, who just gave him a shrug in return before looking back at her textbook.

"I think Charlotte's perfectly capable of maintaining her grades and a job," Jasper defended his best friend. "Besides, it's not like you don't do it. How hard can it be?" Henry leaned his elbow onto the table, pressing his fingers to his forehead in exasperation.

"Thank you, Jasper," Charlotte said with a smile, looking to Henry with her arms crossed.

"Fine," Henry spoke reluctantly. "Whatever." Charlotte shook her head with a smirk.

"Well," Jasper said, clearing his throat through the strange tension. "I don't have robotics after school today, since I just went."

"I start working today," Charlotte said, starting to pack up her things. "But you can still come. It'd be nice to have you there with me on my first day."

"Okay," Jasper replied. "I'll come. What about you, Henry?"

"I gotta go to work, too," Henry mumbled just as the bell rang, signaling the end of fifth period. "Guess I'll see you guys tomorrow." Henry stood up from the table, swinging his book-bag over his shoulder.

"Good luck on your test, Char," he told her. "And on your first day at work." She smiled at him, mouthing a 'thank you' in return as the library began to get louder due to all the students bustling around.

"Text me your schedule when you get it," he added. "See you, Jasp!" he called to the curly-haired blond as he headed towards the door.

As Henry walked to sixth period Physics, he realized he hadn't actually gotten any of his homework done. The blond sighed but brushed it off with a shrug. _I probably wasn't going to do it anyway._ Besides, the conversation he just had with Charlotte wouldn't shake from his thoughts as he realized the gravity of the situation.

 _She got a job._

 _Shit._

* * *

"She got a job!" Henry shouted, stomping out of the elevator to the Man Cave.

"Oh, hey, Kid," Ray spoke, not moving from the monitors. "What are you doing here? I didn't call you."

"I know," Henry replied, making his way towards his boss. "I needed to talk to- what are you doing?" He stood behind Ray in his chair, looking up at the monitor to see the faces of villains they had encountered throughout the years.

"Just doing some research on the robbers," Ray answered absentmindedly, his eyes glued to the monitor. "I'm trying to find out who they are."

"How?" Henry asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "They literally wear masks all the time."

"I know, but-" Ray started. "Something about their eyes. They were red."

"Really? You saw that?"

"Yeah," he spoke, turning towards his sidekick. "But even if that is significant to the robbers, we still have a long way to go if we're gonna find out who they are."

"How long?" Henry asked, his tone unsettling. Ray sighed.

"I don't know," he replied, covering his face with his hands in disappointment. "Why the hell do they have to wear everything-proof armor all the damn time?" Henry sighed.

"I don't know. How do they even make that, anyway?" Ray shrugged.

"I think I know," Schwoz said suddenly as he entered the Man Cave from his laboratory behind the auto-snack machine. Henry and Ray spun towards the small man abruptly.

"Seriously? How?" Ray asked, standing from his chair as Schwoz went to sit in front of the monitors.

"Actually, it's more of a 'who'," he replied in his accent, typing away at the keyboard.

"What do you-"

"Aha!" Schwoz shouted victoriously, startling Henry and Ray. A small, ominous-looking building appeared on the screen then.

"What's that?" Henry asked.

"It is a shop that makes and sells weapons, armor, and defensive machines," Schwoz told them. "And it is located in-" he pressed a few buttons on the keyboard before an address appeared, "-13 Broad Avenue."

"13 Broad Avenue?" Ray repeated, pondering for a moment. "I don't think I've ever been to that part of Swellview."

"That is because the street is abandoned," Schwoz explained. "No one has been there for years. That is the only shop running there."

"That's a shop?" Henry pointed to the screen. "Where's the sign?"

"Right there," Schwoz pointed to the door of the building, where _Jimmy's Weapons & Machinery _was carved sloppily. Ray and Henry replied with 'oh's' in unison.

"And this is the place that the robbers have been getting their armor from?" Ray asked Schwoz for clarification.

"Yep."

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Kid, blow a bubble!" Ray shouted as he moved away from the monitor and pulled out his tube of gum-balls.

"No!" Schwoz yelled, jumping from his chair and slapping the tube from Ray's grip.

"Schwoz!" Ray cried. "What was that for?"

"You can't go there now!" Schwoz answered, his eyes wide. "They are closed!" Henry groaned.

"Seriously? What kind of store closes at-" Henry looked at his watch, "-four o'clock?" Schwoz just shrugged.

"Maybe business is slow," he replied.

"Or," Ray spoke. "They only open around times no one would think to go. That way they can complete orders from the robbers." Henry snapped his fingers at Ray, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah," Henry agreed. "Then, maybe instead of going in as Captain Man and Kid Danger, we should go undercover. That way we can get more information about the robbers." Schwoz nodded vigorously.

"Yeah!" Ray agreed excitedly. "Oh my God, we're finally making some progress."

"You're welcome," Schwoz spoke. Ray rolled his eyes.

"Schwoz! We need you to make some disguises. They won't know we're Captain Man and Kid Danger without our uniforms, but they can't know our real identities, either," Ray told him.

"On it!" Schwoz replied, running back into his laboratory.

"Whoa, undercover!" Henry spoke. "We've never done that before."

"I know, right?" Ray replied while grinning. "I just wish they'd hurry up and open faster." The blond nodded in agreement.

"Guess we'll just have to wait," he said before taking a seat on the couch. Ray sighed as he plopped down next to him.

"So what were you saying earlier?" Ray asked. "When you walked in?"

"Oh, uh," Henry scratched the back of his neck. "Right."

"Well, you know my friend, Charlotte?" he started.

"Oh yeah, you're little girly-friend," Ray teased. Henry rolled his eyes.

"She's not my girlfriend," he responded, the smirk not leaving Ray's face regardless.

"Anyway, she got a job."  
"Really? Good for Charlotte."  
"No, not good."  
"Why not?"  
"Because of these robberies, Ray," Henry answered, his tone irritable.

"Oh," Ray responded. "Right."

"And I think she's on to me," he added. "About Kid Danger."

"What?" Ray sat up. "How do you know that?"

"Relax, she doesn't know," Henry replied. "But she's always asking about work, and she notices how I'm always tired from working in the middle of the night."

"Then just say you have the night shift and we're low on employees," Ray said. "Problem solved."

"I did, but she barely believed me," Henry responded. "And she's _really_ smart, Ray. What if the next robbery is where she works?"

"Where does she work?"  
"Swell Café."  
"Damn, that's by Market Street."  
"I know. What if there's a robbery there, and she's working, and she sees me, and she's able to tell that I'm Kid Danger?" Henry sighed, leaning back onto the couch, his head facing the ceiling.

"You can't let her find out, Henry," Ray said after mimicking the blond next to him.

"But how can I-"  
"Stop hanging out with her." Henry looked to Ray, a look of disbelief on his face.

"What?"  
"You have to quit hanging out with her, kid," Ray repeated, getting up from the couch.

"Ray," Henry called to him, standing up. "Seriously?"

"Yes, Henry," Ray replied sternly, turning around. "You took an oath. If she finds out, you won't know who she'll tell."

"But I trust her," Henry pressed. "And she's kind of, like, my only friend." His voice lowered at the last part, his hand reaching up to run through his hair.

"What about the curly-haired kid?" Ray asked.

"Jasper? He's Charlotte's _best friend._ If I stop hanging out with her, he'll stop hanging out with me," Henry answered.

"Maybe not," Ray replied, heading towards his room. "The kid could use a guy-friend."

"But Ray," Henry spoke, his voice lowering slightly. "I really like Charlotte. I think we could be going somewhere."

"Sorry, kid," Ray continued as he went up the stairs to his room. "It's too dangerous." And with that, his boss disappeared into his room, leaving Henry to stand in the middle of the Man Cave as if all the happiness that he had woken up with was just completely sucked out of his body.

"Besides," Ray called from his room. "There's a million other girls out there who'd _kill_ to be with Kid Danger." Henry's forlorn expression remained.

"Not like her," he replied quietly, inaudible to his boss. "I think she liked _me._ "

* * *

 **Ahhh Chapter 5! Sorry for the wait! And also apologies if this is super long haha.**

 **What did you think? Let me know! I always enjoy hearing your thoughts, and what you would want to read in future chapters. :)**

 **Thanks for reading! Updating soon! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

It seemed as if he was incapable of having a seemingly good day throughout.

Henry had woken up in his best mood and now lay in bed feeling his worst.

Ray wanted him to stop talking to Charlotte to ensure that if she ever encountered Kid Danger again, she would be unable to recognize him as himself. Just hours earlier he was on his toes thinking of how amazing it was that this girl had entered his life, despite only having known her for a few weeks. And now he was expected to remove her from it, like he could simply erase everything that had happened, everything that had changed for him.

He wondered how dramatic he seemed, fussing over how significant it was to him that he keep ties with someone he had just met. But it wasn't only the girl herself. She had made him the happiest he had felt in a long time. Whenever he was around her, he was able to let loose and be himself; things he often was not allowed to do since he was usually being Kid Danger. They seemed to have connected so easily, so who was he to break that bond so abruptly? The blond sighed as he turned to his side, facing the window.

The full moon and bright stars illuminated his otherwise completely dark room. It wasn't until he had been caught gazing at said stars that Henry realized how long it had been since he had actually witnessed them from his bedroom window. Usually he was out at this time, as Kid Danger, with Ray and fighting some villain or saving some pedestrian, or more recently, following up on the robbers. But surprisingly, he hadn't gotten a call from Ray tonight. Perhaps the robbers were off plotting some other devious plan tonight, which only made Henry grow even more concerned. The blond's stomach turned as he felt himself being swept up in unwanted emotions. Sure, worry and concern were common feelings he had when his job was to protect. But he had never dealt with such closed-off, unidentifiable villains before. And with the added situation with Charlotte, he seriously would not object to switching places with someone else right now.

 _Charlotte._ The girl's name brought her back to his attention in the blond's mind. He groaned irritably and shut his eyes, trying to allow sleep to engulf him and rid him of his thoughts for a few hours. But after a minute or so, Henry found himself reaching for his phone across his bedside table and opening up his messages.

He was surprised to see he had an unopened text from Charlotte so late. It was past midnight, almost 1am. He tapped open the message anyway.

 _ **Charlotte**_ _: Thanks for visiting me at work, NOT. You just lost fifty points. Jk, I know you're busy at work, but you still owe me. Another date seems redeeming. :)_

 _ **Charlotte:**_ _Anyways, goodnight Henry. (don't work too hard)_

The messages made the blond rise in a new wave of emotions. He felt his heart quicken as he read and reread the texts, then breathed in deeply with frustration at the fact that two simple messages from this girl could trigger such a stir in him. If only she didn't affect him the way she did, it would probably be a lot easier to stop talking to her.

It's not like Henry never had a girlfriend before. Back in middle school, he had his fair share of relationships. But they never lasted for long, and when they did end, he never felt as if his heart had broken or that his life was negatively altered. It wasn't that he was a heartless jerk who didn't care about it, of course he _cared._ He just never reached a point where he could form true connections with them, which wasn't entirely his fault. Middle school relationships were typically casual anyway; couples rarely saw each other outside of school. Plus, he was just becoming Kid Danger, a very exciting time in his life and way more life-altering than when his girlfriend Bianca broke up with him back in middle school.

The blond debated whether or not he should reply to the texts, his thumb brushing over the keyboard on his screen. Ray's words repeated in his mind, along with Charlotte's melodious laugh echoing through his brain. Henry clenched his fists at the thought of having yet another unfair rule to abide by solely to keep his identity a secret. Was he allowed to do anything to live even a bit normally?

Charlotte's face reappeared in his mind. Maybe he could make this work. What were the chances of her and Kid Danger meeting again, anyway? Robbers don't hit cafés, right? They just sell a bunch of coffee, who'd want to rob that?

Henry sighed as he realized the irrationality of his thoughts. He knew that if he kept hanging out with _Charlotte: the genius_ and she ever saw him as Kid Danger again, she would find out. Sure, maybe she didn't the first time she and Kid Danger met. But she had just met him as Henry, too. They barely knew each other. Eventually she would catch on to his features, his voice. And if he told her he was Kid Danger, her life would change.

She would have to be living a risk everyday with the knowledge of Kid Danger and Captain Man's identity. And Ray made him take an oath of secrecy. If he broke it, he might just erase her memories. And if Ray did that to Charlotte, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

The blond turned to his side, his phone still in his palm. He sighed, knowing that whether or not he replied would determine his decision.

Henry set his phone down on the bedside table without another thought.

* * *

"Phones away, Ms. Bolton."

The stern voice of Mrs. Johnston caused Charlotte to flinch in surprise, followed by shuffling to get her phone out of sight and into her pocket. Jasper raised his eyebrows in annoyance towards her from his seat beside her. She sighed as she tried to focus on the Pre-Calc lesson without any luck.

When it came to academics, Charlotte was almost always on top of her game. She never missed a lesson or an assignment, took the best notes, and aced every test. But as she sat in the classroom trying to take notes, her mind just could not focus on anything else but a certain blond boy.

Henry had not responded to her texts that she sent last night. Despite them not being very serious messages, he normally replied fairly quickly. She hadn't thought much of it until this morning and he had yet to show up to school. Henry had seemed to be doing better with both getting more rest and his punctuality at school. She had hoped that he had cleared some hours at work to maintain his health.

 _Aren't there child labor laws that should get Henry out of working so damn much?_ the curly-haired girl pondered, drawing squiggles in her notebook in frustration. _There's no way it's legal for a fifteen-year-old kid to be working during the late hours of a high school custodian._ Charlotte began thinking of a million scenarios that might be what Henry was going through. _Was his boss actually his mean step-father? Could he be being blackmailed for some random situation that occurred in his past? Or maybe had he secretly been living alone because his parents died in some tragic accident and he had to work crazy hours to take care of himself and his little sister?_

Charlotte shook her head. Whatever the case was, she knew Henry wouldn't want her to get involved, and she had to respect that. That being her final thought, she resumed copying the equations on the board with a sigh.

As if on cue, Henry stepped into the classroom. Charlotte slightly gasped, raising her head from her desk in both surprise and a little relief. She glanced at the clock in front of the classroom, _he's half an hour late._

"Ah, Henry," Mrs. Johnston spoke. "So lovely to have you finally join us." Her sarcasm stirred an apologetic frown from the blond as he took a seat towards the back of the room, making a point not to make eye contact with anyone.

Charlotte turned around in her seat towards where Henry was sitting, hoping he'd glance at her. But he paid no attention to her as he watched Mrs. Johnston at the front of the room. In an attempt to grab his attention, she audibly coughed in his direction, and to her surprise, Henry glanced at her. She smiled at him, but his expression remained indifferent. Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

 _Are you okay?_ she mouthed to the blond several seats away from her. Suddenly his face seemed sad, his eyebrows slightly raised in longing and his lips slightly parted. Then even more abruptly, Henry broke his glance and turned his head towards his notebook where he began copying the notes from the board.

Charlotte felt a pang in her chest. Was he ignoring her? Had she done something wrong? Then she thought maybe something unfortunate had occurred at work, or at home. Maybe one of her crazy scenarios were true. Whatever it was, she was determined to find out.

* * *

It felt like forever until the bell had finally rung at the end of class. Everyone rushed out the door, even Mrs. Johnston to get to the teacher's lounge, providing Charlotte a chance to talk to Henry. Right as he was about to leave, she stopped him, grabbing his arm.

"Henry," Charlotte spoke. Henry froze under her touch, feeling goosebumps go up his arm. Without thinking, he shook out of her grip easily, taking another step towards the door.

"Please talk to me." Her stern voice made Henry stop in his tracks. He sighed before turning around to face her.

"What, Charlotte?" he asked, his voice quiet.

"Why'd you come in late today?" she asked.

"I overslept."

"Really? Or was it work again?" she crossed her arms.

"No, I actually overslept." His overused excuse was actually true for once.

"Henry, you don't have to lie to me," she said. "I want to help you."

"I'm not lying," he replied, slightly annoyed. "And I don't need your help."

"But if something's going on, you can tell me," she persisted. "If someone's threatening you or something"-

"Nothing's going on, Charlotte," Henry said, his voice becoming angry. "Everything is normal so you can stop trying to help me or whatever it is you're doing because I don't need it." Henry felt himself grow with anger, not at Charlotte, but at everything else going on in his life, and he couldn't help but put it on her. He sighed when she didn't respond but just stared at him, then turned to leave.

"Why can't you just tell me?" Charlotte spoke again, trying her best to remain calm enough to get a word out of him. Henry sighed in frustration as he stopped again to listen to her.

"I want to help you! If your boss is bothering you, you can tell me! I'll help you out of whatever it is Henry," her tone was firm, and the blond knew that Charlotte would persist no matter what he said.

Henry turned to face her, taking a few steps towards her. Her chocolate brown eyes remained locked on his own as the short girl stared up at the taller boy. What Henry would give to just tell the girl in front of her everything. He looked down and sighed, knowing he couldn't.

"Look, Charlotte," he finally spoke softly, resting his hands on both her shoulders. Charlotte's breath caught in her throat, surprised at the sudden contact.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," he started. "The truth is, you're right. I have been working a lot and it's been leaving me really tired- but trust me when I tell you that I am okay." His eyes were wide, and everything showed that he was telling the truth. She had no reason not to believe him, anyway. Why would he lie?

"Will you trust me?" he asked her. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded her head yes. Henry broke out in a closed-mouth grin before reaching his arms out around the petite girl's waist and wrapping her in a hug. Charlotte brought her hands around his neck, slightly on the tips of her toes, and sighed as the two hugged.

She knew he was lying. Charlotte was merely offering him her help. But whether or not he let her...

She was going to do it anyway.

* * *

 **Hi. Yes, it's been a while. I'm honestly so sincerely sorry to have seemed MIA forever. There isn't a good reason as to why I stopped updating, other than a lack of inspiration and so little new Henry Danger episodes. To keep things short, I left without warning, and anyone who wanted to read the rest of this story was left hanging. So for that, I sincerely apologize. I hope you understand!**

 **But all that matters now is: I'm back! Whether you've been here since the beginning and have been waiting for an update, or have just recently stumbled upon this story (so this whole hiatus means nothing to you haha), hello! Thank you so much for giving my story a read, and an extra thanks if you left review! It was so incredibly heartwarming to come back and see such wonderful words from you! Even comments that expressed your dislike in the story haha, I appreciate your thoughts with an open mind. :)**

 **Thank you for sticking with me and this story thus far! It means so much, especially after coming back from such a consuming time. I decided that despite everything, writing was what made me feel better, so why not get back to it?**

 **On more relevant news, what are your thoughts on the chapter? Let me know! I really enjoy hearing what you guys think!**

 **If you read this whole thing, I am truly grateful for your existence. I give you virtual hugs and a cookie. xD**

 **Until next time! (I promise you WILL NOT have to wait another nine months for the next chapter. xD)**


	7. Chapter 7

Henry and Charlotte strolled out of class together, talking and laughing as if nothing ever happened. But they each knew what the were doing, just not what the other was doing. Here, an explanation:

In the moments of Charlotte's confrontation and her caring words, Henry could not bear himself to force her out of his life, realizing he'd not only be hurting himself, but her as well. So when he had convinced her to trust him, he believed he was off the hook. She'd stop questioning him about work, quit worrying about his sleeping habits, and they'd be able to move on with their relationship (it's getting there) without any trouble with Ray. How could she find out his secret if she trusted that he had none? The blond believed there was no serious harm being done.

He'll just ignore the guilt growing in the back of his mind from lying to her for now.

"Hey, Jasper," Henry said as the two approached Jasper's locker. Jasper looked at the two with narrowed eyes.

"Hi." He shut his locker a little harder than necessary. Henry and Charlotte looked at each other with looks of confusion.

"Everything okay, Jasp?" Charlotte asked her best friend.

"Peachy," he responded dryly. "I gotta get to class." He turned away from them and started down the hall.

"Wait!" Charlotte called after him. "Henry, I'll text you later, okay?" She smiled up at him as he nodded, then ran after Jasper.

Charlotte, on the other hand, was still set on her plan of helping Henry without his permission. She figured he was in a tough spot at work, involving some level of blackmail. Of course he wouldn't take her help. The consequence must be severe. Whatever the situation was, she was going to get him out of it.

With a little bit of curly-haired help.

"Jasper!" she called again, finally reaching his arm. "I need to talk to you."

"I can't, I have this big physics test-"

"Right now."

She tugged his arm with all the strength she could muster while he tried to keep his ground, eventually dragging him into the nearby janitor's closet. She let him through the door first, then shut the door behind them.

"Are you crazy?" Jasper yelled.

"Yes," she answered simply. "I need to talk to you."

"You said that already," he replied in a tone of annoyance.

"Okay, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I think Henry's being blackmailed at work," she began. Jasper raised his eyebrows.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I really think that-"

"I mean you seriously brought me in here to talk about Henry?" He wore a look of disbelief.

"I'm just worried about him, Jasp," she responded. "And I know something's not right here. He's not just working for the money."

"And what do I care about this?" Jasper crossed his arms in front of his chest. Charlotte punched his arm.

"He's our friend," she said matter-of-factly. "We should help him."

"No, _you're_ his friend," he replied in the same tone. "I'm just a victim by association."

"Will you please just help me?" Charlotte pleaded. "I have a plan, but I'll need your help." Jasper shook his head.

"No way," he answered. "Not gonna happen."

"Why not?"

"I'm busy." She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, as if she didn't believe him.

"I am!" he repeated defensively. "If you must know, I've had robotics _everyday_ for the past _two_ weeks and I've been really stressed because our competition is coming up, _plus_ I've been struggling with physics lately so my mom got me a tutor and I've been meeting with him every other day after school. Maybe you would know that if you weren't so far up Henry's ass lately." Jasper let out a deep breath following his rant, then crossed his arms firmly in front of his chest. Charlotte's lips parted in surprise at her best friend's words, immediately being hit with guilt and a little hurt at the harshness of his tone. When she didn't say anything, Jasper turned towards the door to leave, placing a hand on the knob until he felt her small fingers wrap around his other hand, holding him in his tracks.

"Jasper," she started. "I'm so sorry for neglecting you recently. You know how much I care about you." He looked to the floor without reply. Charlotte sighed.

"You should've told me what was going on. I could've helped you study or something." Jasper knitted his eyebrows after her statement, removing his hand from her grip and turning to look at her.

"How could I've?" he challenged. "You haven't exactly been available lately. You're always either doing homework, or working, or with Henry." He spoke his name bitterly, then sighed. "And once again, I'm the forgotten one."

"Jasper, you know it's not like that," Charlotte responded, her voice sincere.

"I think it's exactly like that," he muttered, looking down at the floor again. Now Charlotte crossed her arms.

"Seriously, Jasper. You? Our friendship? They mean way more to me than all of those things, even combined," she spoke confidently. Jasper raised his gaze to meet her eyes.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Even more than Henry?"

"Way more than Henry. Come on, Jasp. You're my _best friend_." Jasper felt his heart rate quicken at her words. He searched her eyes for a sign of something, _anything,_ more.

"Will you forgive me?" she asked with a small smile. The curly-haired blond hesitated, as if pondering for a moment, then sighed. He couldn't find it in his heart to not forgive her.

"Fine," he dragged out, a smile finally working its way onto his face. Charlotte, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear, happy to have had a heart-to-heart with her best friend after so long. She leaned forward and swung her arms around his neck in an embrace, almost causing Jasper to lose his balance before he brought his strong arms around her waist and steadied themselves.

"Thank you, Jasp," she whispered. He smiled wholeheartedly, turning his face down towards her neck to hide the blush creeping onto his cheeks.

"I still need your help." She spoke quickly, wincing at her own words knowing the reaction she was going to get. Any other feelings he had the moment before disappeared as Jasper rolled his eyes before detangling himself from his best friend.

"I told you I can't, Charlotte," he responded.

"Please, Jasper, I promise it won't take long. Just give me one day after school." Jasper sighed placing his hands behind his head in a stressful manner.

"I'll explain my idea then and we'll do it right after. All you have to do is show up."

"Do what, exactly?" he inquired. Charlotte brushed his question away with her hand.

"I'll explain before we do it. Just give me one afternoon- tomorrow. And I'll make it up to you."

"Heard that before," he muttered under his breath.

"I promise," she repeated firmly. "I wouldn't be asking you this unless I really needed your help. I need you, Jasp." Her voice was sincere, her eyes wide with plead.

"I don't know," he began. "I really can't be missing robotics."

"Please," she dragged. Charlotte folded her hands above her chin while bouncing on her toes, anticipating an answer of agreement. A few moments, Jasper sighed.

"I _guess_ I can skip robotics for one day." Charlotte grinned widely at his words.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" she exclaimed quickly, moving to hug him again.

"But you seriously owe me," he said as he wrapped an arm around her. "Fro-yo isn't gonna cut it this time." Charlotte laughed as the tone of the late bell rang through the school.

"Great," he spoke as they let go and opened the door to leave the janitor's closet. He rushed down the hall, opposite the direction Charlotte was going. "I'm late for my test, thanks to you!"

"I'll make it up to you!" she called back as she scurried along her way.

"Heard that before!"

"I promise!"

Jasper reached the door to his physics class when he stopped to take a breath. A close-mouthed grin spread across his face before he stepped in.

It could've been the many tutoring sessions he's had so far that allowed him to ace his test. But Jasper chose to believe that it was his encounter with his best friend that inspired him instead.

It was _Charlotte_ , after all.

* * *

"So? What do you think?"

In the Man Cave, Schwoz stood in front of Henry and Ray, who sat on the couch inspecting the objects in the scientist's hands.

"Awesome!" Henry exclaimed when he saw the leather jacket, standing up to take it in his hands.

"That is for Ray," Schwoz said matter-of-factly. "This-" the scientist handed him a pair of wide-framed glasses, a button-down lobster-printed shirt, and a pair of cargo shorts "-is for you." Henry frowned.

"Ha!" Ray laughed, standing up to take his leather jacket and sunglasses. "You look like a dork."

"Why do _I_ have to be disguised as a dork?" Henry asked defensively.

"Because you are supposed to be different from who you really are," Schwoz explained. "Plus it will make you seem younger than Ray so you can pretend to be his son." Henry and Ray looked at each other with weird looks.

" _He's_ supposed to be my _dad_?"

" _I'm_ supposed to be his _father_?" The two spoke simultaneously.

"We don't even look genetically similar," Henry pointed.

"There's no way I could be his dad!" Ray exclaimed. "Or any kid's dad! Look at me! I'm too young!"

"Well-" Henry interjected.

"Shut it, kid."

Henry rolled his eyes. "And how is a leather jacket and shades different from Ray's style now?"

"I am not finished yet with Ray's disguise," Schwoz finally answered. "I was planning on adding a facial disguise, since Ray has been in the spotlight for such a _long_ time."

Ray held up a hand. "Alright, Schwoz, I don't know what your problem is but you _clearly_ think I'm an old hag that-"

"Oh, be quiet," Schwoz spoke. "You have more of a chance at being recognized. I am just trying to ensure that does not happen." Henry turned to Ray.

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you, dad," he joked, snickering as he placed a hand on his shoulder. Ray immediately pushed his hand away.

"Oh! I almost forgot," Schwoz said excitedly. He ran to grab something from behind the monitors and came back with two small buttons.

"What are these?" Ray asked, taking the button in his fingers.

"You are to put them over your chest under your clothes," Schwoz instructed. "When you press them, your voice should change." Ray placed his button under his shirt and pressed it, then spoke a simple "hello". His voice sounded as deep as Morgan Freeman's, with a bit of a southern accent.

"Whoa! This is so cool!" he exclaimed. He went on exploring his new voice with different words and sounds.

"I wanna try!" Henry said, taking the other button from Schwoz and placing it over his chest.

"Heyo," Henry spoke to test out his voice button. His eyes widened as he heard it raise in at least two octaves from his normal voice, similar to his prepubescent days. Ray started to laugh.

"You sound like a little kid!" Ray exclaimed. Henry rolled his eyes.

"Haha, very funny," he retaliated, immediately regretting it as his new voice sounded and set Ray off into another burst of laughter.

"You are supposed to sound young," Schwoz said. "Your backstory when you arrive to the weapons shop is that you have just turned thirteen years old and your father wants to teach you about hunting."

"That guy isn't gonna believe _I_ have a thirteen year old son," Ray mumbled.

"Yes he will," Schwoz said. "You'll just need to wait and see the facial disguise. It should be ready by tomorrow afternoon so you can visit the weapons shop tomorrow night."

"Good," Ray responded. "It's been long enough. We need to catch these robbers before they hit again."

Henry gulped nervously, removing the voice button from underneath his shirt. He hadn't told Ray that he was still talking to Charlotte.

And he was going to keep it that way.

"Henry," Ray called suddenly, startling the blond.

"Yeah?"

"You told that Charlotte girl you can't be friends with her anymore, right?" his boss asked. Henry scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Uh yeah, yep, I did," he stuttered. Why he suddenly became nervous while lying to his boss was confusing to him. He had lied to him before, sure, but perhaps never for anything so meaningful to him as this.

Ray raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Really? What'd you say?"

"Uh," Henry dragged, looking down at his shoes as he rocked over his heels. "I was just super straightforward. Went up to her after class when she tried to talk to me, told her I couldn't be friends anymore." The blond shrugged, trying his best at nonchalance.

"And what'd she say?" Ray inquired.

Henry paused to think of an excuse. "I don't know," he finally said. "I tried to rip it off like a bandaid, and didn't really wanna hear her reaction so I bolted."

"You ran away from her?"

"Yup."

"And she didn't try to run after you?"

"Nope."

"So you didn't see her again."

"Nope."

"Wow," Ray said. "Sounds like she wasn't that into you anyway." He chuckled as Henry pressed his lips together before placing a hand on Henry's shoulder.

"You okay?" Ray asked his sidekick sincerely.

"Yeah," Henry breathed. "I'm okay."

"I told you," he spoke. "There's plenty of other girls who'd kill to be with you." Ray smiled as Henry nodded, his lips pressed together. He squeezed his shoulder before walking back towards his room.

"It was best for her anyway," Ray added. "Wouldn't want her tangling with danger by being associated with _Kid Danger_." Ray winked.

Henry pondered his boss' last words after he left, his eyebrows knitted together and fingertips pressed to his temples as he paced the Man Cave. Ray was right. It was the safest option to cut ties with her. Henry sighed, running both hands through his blond locks and tugging at the ends in distress.

But if he were to always comply with Ray's instructions, he'd never get to keep ties with anyone not affiliated with Captain Man and Kid Danger. He'd never get to make real friends, have real experiences.

He had convinced himself earlier that he would keep her safe, and that she couldn't find out his secret unless she tried. And she trusted him. Henry nodded to himself, stopping his paces in reassurance. He could keep his job _and_ his friends. It'll be a lot, but he had to try.

"Yeah," he spoke softly to himself. "I got this."

"What was that?" Ray called to him from his room.

"Uh, nothing!" Henry called back. "I just got this, uh, fly. I caught it." _What?_ he mouthed to himself.

"Gross! Put that thing outside," Ray ordered. Henry sighed.

"Got it."

* * *

 **Hey guys! Sorry for the wait! I'm still getting back into the swing of things, forgive me. But hey! I'm on spring break and hopefully I'll have another chapter up by the end of the week! Stay tuned! ;)**

 **So what'd you think? Leave any thoughts in a review! I love hearing from you. :)**

 **Also I know Jasper wears his hair straighter now (can they stop growing up it's making me emotional), but I miss his curly hair so his hair is staying curly in the story. xD**

 **On another note, anyone see the KCA's? Jace won again! I feel like a proud mom. xD**

 **I hope you're all having a wonderful day and hope you see this story through! I appreciate all the feedback and support especially since I'm not very active, you seriously have no idea how much you motivate me. I promise I** _ **will**_ **finish this story and I'm not gonna half-ass it in anyway. Thank you for reading! Keep an eye out for an update very soon! :) 3**


	8. Chapter 8

That same day after school, Charlotte went to her new job at the Swell Café. It had been almost a week since she'd been working there and the curly-haired girl was pleased to admit she was glad she got the job.

She enjoyed the bittersweet aroma of coffee and sweets, and she appreciated the short distance between the café and her house that only called for a ten minute walk. And the job itself wasn't too difficult. While she sometimes grew tiresome of running around the kitchen and brewing the same order of caramel mochas (she swore she got at _least_ twenty orders of those a day), she loved being able to experience some responsibility outside of school. And getting her homework done and keeping up with being class president were simple when it came to someone as organized as herself.

Plus, she loved getting discounts off of vanilla lattes.

With Jasper's busy schedule and Henry's job, she had begun to feel left out. Having a job to attend to after school made her feel more included, and, to be frank, a lot less lonely. Before she had been working, she would've went home and buried herself in homework or watch TV, hoping to get a call or text. Now, she could say she was occupying herself in a better way.

The bells to the door of Swell Café jingled as a group of customers left. It was 8:30pm, half an hour before closing time, and only a few customers remained in the shop. A few occupied the tables, typing away on their laptops while taking a sip of their coffee every now and then. The shop remained fairly peaceful with only the sound of a few girls talking at a table and the soft buzz of the lit fridge containing cupcakes and brownies. If during earlier hours, like right after school, the café would be loud and restless with rambunctious teenagers huddling over the tables and a line going almost out the door. Now, preparing for closing, Charlotte wiped down the counter with a rag as a blonde woman came up behind her.

"Don't work too hard," the blonde joked. "You'll crack the counter." Charlotte laughed.

"You can never tell me to work less, Liz," the petite girl replied. "Will only make me work harder."

"Aren't you a tough one?" she responded. "Your momma taught you that?"

"She'd be the one." Charlotte smiled. She loved and looked up to her mother more than anyone else. If she saw her right now, she'd be scolding her that she missed a spot on the counter.

Charlotte swung the rag over her shoulder and turned towards her coworker.

"Leaving already?" she asked after she noticed her out of uniform and holding her bag.

"Yeah, I asked Stacy if I could check out early today. It's Tony and I's one year anniversary." Liz grinned. Stacy was the manager of Swell Café and their boss.

"Aw, Liz, I'm so happy for you!" Charlotte replied, bringing her hands out to hold Liz's hands. "And I hate you for leaving me here by myself." Her grin dropped to a frown, and her eyes narrowed into a glare. Liz laughed. The two coworkers had become friends almost instantly and became quite close in the short span they had been working together. With only about four employees and six hour shifts daily, it was pretty hard not to become friends with each other.

"Sorry, sugar," Liz replied, walking around to the front of the counter.

"What are you guys doing, anyway?" Charlotte asked, leaning her elbows across the counter and resting her chin over her fists.

"Tony got us reservations at Montego's," Liz said with a smirk. Charlotte's jaw dropped.

"Montego's? The famous steakhouse? How'd he manage to pull that off?" she asked.

"Don't ask me!" Liz replied. "Anyways, I gotta run. I'll miss you!"

"Yeah, right, you'll definitely be thinking of me as you're eating your fancy steak while I'm here closing up shop _alone_." Charlotte playfully rolled her eyes as she finished wiping the counter.

"You'll be fine! Get your boyfriend to help you!" Liz waved goodbye as she walked out the jingling door.

"My boyfriend?" Charlotte said to herself. She turned around to see Henry walking towards her with a brown bag and a grin.

"Henry!" she exclaimed happily, hugging him over the counter. "What are you doing here?"

"Just thought I'd bring you some frozen yogurt cause, well, who doesn't love frozen yogurt?" He smiled as he slid the bag to her.

"Aw, you're sweet," she gushed, opening up the bag. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion as she pulled out two spoons from the bag. "Two spoons?"

"I mean, I love frozen yogurt too," he said, taking a spoon from her hand. The two laughed as two more customers left the shop, leaving one.

"So how much longer?" he asked, taking the yogurt out of the bag.

"Not long," she replied taking a bite out of the cookie-dough flavored treat. "Everything's clean and no one else is coming in. After that guy leaves I'll be locking up."

"Well aren't you just so responsible?" he joked, tapping her nose with his spoon. Charlotte rolled her eyes as they continued to take bites of the frozen yogurt.

"So you like your new job, huh?" he said.

"Yeah, I do," she responded. "And nothing you say's gonna make me quit so don't even try." She wagged her spoon at him assertively.

"Alright, alright," he said defensively. "I won't. I'm glad you're happy."

Charlotte smiled. "Thank you."

"Plus, that uniform looks good on you," he said with a wink. Her uniform consisted of a simple olive-green colored collared shirt, with an apron tied around her waist and a visor wrapped around her head. Charlotte raised her eyebrows.

"That's pretty bold of you, don't you think?" she asked.

"Just stating facts."

"So what are the facts?" she asked leaning forward across the counter, her chin over her fist. "What are we, Henry?"

"You tell me," he challenged, mimicking her moves and leaning forward from the other side of the counter so that they were face-to-face.

"You bump into me, force me to talk to you, hold me hostage after class," he listed off his fingers. "Seems like you can't get enough of me." Charlotte's mouth fell open and she punched his arm in defense as Henry started laughing.

"Oh please," she scoffed. " _You_ take _me_ out on a date-"

"-just one-"

"-bring me donuts-"

"-technically that was for both you _and_ Jasper-"

"- _and_ you bring me frozen yogurt at my job." Henry opened his mouth to retaliate, then closed his mouth, earning a laugh from the girl in front of him.

"You got me there," he admitted. Charlotte smiled as she moved so she was standing straight, her arms crossed in front of her chest while Henry grinned up at her leaning on his elbow on the counter. Just then the last customer, a tall man holding a laptop case, stood up and made his way to the door.

"Have a good night," he nodded towards the two.

"Thank you, sir, you too," Charlotte responded while Henry casually bid him goodbye with a two-finger salute. As the door shut behind the customer, Charlotte silently fist-bumped the air as Henry mouthed _finally._

"Let me just wipe down his table," she spoke as she moved around the counter to where the customer had been sitting.

"Anything I can do?" the blond asked.

"Grab my coat and bag from the back?" she responded as she wiped the table clean. Henry nodded as he swiftly moved behind the counter towards the back to grab her things. He couldn't help but smile to himself as he did.

He was so glad he didn't listen to Ray.

As he came back, her coat and bag in tow, Charlotte raised her eyebrows. "What are you smiling about?"

Henry smiled as he set her bag on the counter and held her coat out for her to put her arms through. "Nothing." Charlotte felt her heart skip a beat at the gesture as she slipped her arms through the sleeves while Henry held her jacket for her.

She turned as she buttoned it to face him. They were standing pretty close to each other, his face towering above her as she met his gaze.

"Thanks," she breathed. It was then they both realized their close proximity. She couldn't tell if she was hallucinating or if Henry was leaning in towards her, but when he brought his hand up to cup her face her breath hitched in her throat and it felt like her heart was going to burst. He continued to lean in as his thumb slightly grazed over her cheek. She felt her eyelids begin to flutter and her pulse beating through her veins until he pulled back suddenly, moving away.

"You had an eyelash," he said casually as he looked at his thumb. He then moved his thumb holding the eyelash in front of her with a grin. "Make a wish." Charlotte's jaw dropped for the second time that night.

"I hate you," she tried to say seriously as she picked up her bag from the counter and walked out the door, flipping the sign on the door from _OPEN_ to _CLOSED_ on the way. She smiled once she knew he couldn't see her face.

"But you didn't make your wish!" he called back. Henry grinned before grabbing their finished frozen yogurt off the counter to put in the trash, running after her. He was surprised to see her right outside the door.

"I thought you would've been running by now," he joked.

"I would, but I have to lock up shop." Charlotte shrugged as she held up the keys.

"Ah." Charlotte laughed as she locked the door. Then she tucked the keys into her coat pocket and slowly started towards her house.

"So, where to?" the blond asked, trailing beside her.

"I'm going home, Henry," she said as if it was obvious. "I'm tired."

"Gotcha." He continued to walk beside her.

"You don't have to walk me home."

"I know." Charlotte looked up to meet his kind gaze before looking down, a smile spreading across her face. She then felt his hand capture hers in a swift move, intertwining their fingers together.

She hoped he couldn't feel her racing pulse through her wrist.

Charlotte cleared her throat before speaking. "So how was work?"

"Uh, good, yeah," he answered casually. "The usual."

"Wouldn't you normally still be working right now?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I guess they didn't need me today," he responded. Charlotte merely nodded, pressing her lips together. _She trusts me,_ he assured to himself.

"Ready for that pre-calc test tomorrow?" he asked to change subject. Charlotte stopped in her tracks.

"We have a pre-calc test tomorrow?" she questioned, worry in her voice. "But I thought it was next week."

"No, Mrs. Johnston said tomorrow," he answered, continuing walking. "I specifically heard her say that today in class."

"You're kidding me." Charlotte released her hand from his grip, her feet planted on the pavement.

"No. It's true."

"Oh my God," she started, walking at a faster pace towards her house than before. "I told my mom that my job wouldn't interfere with school and that I'll keep my grades up but I didn't study and now I'm _screwed_ -"

"Char."

"What?"

"I was kidding." Charlotte's mouth fell agape once again as Henry covered his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I know how much these things matter to you but seriously if you saw your face right now you'd know that that was _so_ worth it," the blond spoke quickly between fits of laughter.

"You think that was funny, huh?" she asked as she started to walk towards him. Henry started to back away.

"Whoa, chill out, it was just a joke, I'm sorry," he apologized, his smirk falling.

"You better run, Hart."

Charlotte made a run for it towards the blond and Henry was almost actually scared for a second because he had never seen anyone run that fast in his life- especially not anyone her size. It was so unexpected he tripped over his own feet before running away from the girl and the two started laughing in a race through the night that was both exhilarating and slightly frightening. It wasn't until they passed through a few blocks that Henry realized: _what could_ she _do if she caught him?_ So he spun around to her surprise and caught her himself, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up off her feet in the midst of laughter and catching their breaths.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as he lifted her off the ground. "I was supposed to catch you!"

"And what were you gonna do?" he laughed as he continued walking down the sidewalk. "Revoke my friend discount to the Swell Café?"

"Well now that you mention it," she said as he put her down. "I might just do that."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Mhm."

"Okay, come on."

"What? It's only fair."

"Charlotte, I'm serious."

"So am I!"

"Really?"

"Henry, that's not even a thing," she laughed at him. "There's no friend discount." This time it was Henry's turn to drop his jaw. He then jokingly placed a hand over his heart.

"Ouch, that was cold," he said to her. Charlotte laughed again.

"Good." And with that, she took his hand this time and laced their fingers together for the rest of the short walk to her house.

They enjoyed the rest of the walk in comfortable silence. Swellview was chilly that night, typical for early October. The streets were dark besides the dimly lit lampposts and the bright moon perched high above them. Their neighborhood was silent, but in a way that was relaxing; it would be odd if it wasn't. Most of the houses had their porch lights on, casting a welcoming glow across the town.

Henry took a deep breath, soaking it all in. He was never out- like _this_ \- at this time of night. Sure, he'd be out late fighting crime, but he never got to really appreciate his hometown at night. He looked down at the girl beside him, and he felt a sense of happiness that brought life to his step in way that he never felt before.

"There's my house," she pointed with her right unoccupied hand.

"Aw, already?" he complained with a grin. Charlotte smiled.

"So," she dragged, gently swinging their entwined hands as they climbed the steps to her front porch. "We never got to finish our conversation in the shop."

"You were the one who ran out," he responded as they came to a stop in front of the door. "I was waiting for you to make a wish."

"Not that one!" she replied. Henry chuckled as Charlotte rolled her eyes. "The one about _us_."

"What about us?" Henry asked, earning a glare from the petite girl in front of him. Henry laughed quietly as Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"I want us to be together, Henry," she said suddenly. Henry stopped laughing to look at her, slightly in shock. He hadn't expected her to come out so blatantly and say it first.

"Well that was pretty bold of you," he stated, mocking her from earlier.

"I mean, you weren't saying anything and it's getting pretty late and I don't have all night so-"

Henry interrupted her by bringing both his hands to cup her face and kiss her lips. Charlotte was stiff with shock at first, but soon melted into the kiss as she slowly brought her hands to his sides.

He kissed her once, soft and slowly, as he gently pulled her closer. His lips lingered onto hers as he moved to kiss her again, his lips capturing hers perfectly while his hands moved down to the sides of her neck. Charlotte couldn't help but fall flush against him, her hands moving from grazing the sides of his hoodie to encircling around his waist. They seemed to have fallen in sync as the blond kissed her again. And again.

And again.

While it would be a while before she admitted it, Henry was Charlotte's first kiss. Of course, like most girls her age, she had imagined it a countless number of times. Sometimes it'd be during a slow dance, or after some grand gesture with everyone watching wishing they were them.

But this was even better.

They were both tired and she was in her uniform and no one could give a damn as to what they were doing. (Except, perhaps her mother who was somewhere behind the front door, but Charlotte didn't think of this.) But in the cold air, he was her warmth, and the golden porch light made the boy in front of her glow in a way that made her heart flip as he spoke, and his hands on her neck sent goosebumps down her arms but she could feel the energy down to her toes. It was perfect.

Henry had to admit that he's kissed his fair share of girls in his short lifetime, and he thought this in the least arrogant way possible. But never had they felt like this.

He knew she would have set out on another ramble of a lecture if he didn't shut her up, so he did the only logical thing he could think of. After capturing her soft, full lips with his he suddenly felt drawn to the girl in front of him and couldn't bear to move away. Her arms tightly wound around his waist sent a chill down his spine as her lips followed his, not fast but slow enough in a way that was perfect to them.

And they both tasted of cookie dough flavored frozen yogurt.

After a few moments, they both separated for air, but neither moved to detangle themselves from each other. They both breathed heavily as Henry pressed his forehead against hers, each of them looking down and neither eager to move away from the other.

"Char," Henry whispered in between breaths. "I want to be with you, too." Charlotte let out a laugh before looking up to match Henry's smile. She then moved her head into his chest, tightening her arms around his waist in an embrace as Henry did the same. The tall blond buried his chin into her hair and they stayed like that for a few moments until a loud thud jolted them apart.

"What was that?" he asked in a whisper, so as not to be heard by her family. Charlotte moved her gaze to behind him to where she must've dropped her bag, as it lay over the wooden boards. Henry followed her gaze, before meeting her eyes and they both tried to hold in their laughter.

"Charlotte, honey?" they heard her mother call from inside. "Is that you?" The two looked at each other with wide eyes and goofy grins before Charlotte started to shoo him off her porch.

"Yes, mom! I'm coming!" she called back to her mom. "Go!" she whisper-yelled at the blond.

Henry turned to leave, then turned back around and pressed his palms to her cheeks again to peck her lips softly.

He smiled down at her and whispered, "Goodnight, Charlotte." He then gently pressed his lips to her forehead as she hummed in content.

"Charlotte?" they heard her mother call again.

"Goodnight, Henry," she whispered back. "Now go!" She laughed as Henry scrambled off her front porch and jogged away towards his house a few blocks away. When he was finally out of sight, the petite girl picked up her bag and opened the door.

"Hi mom," she singsonged to her mother before shutting the door behind her. She pressed her back against the door almost immediately, slightly in a daze.

"You okay, honey?" her mother asked as she approached her to plant a kiss in her hair. "Tired from work?"

"Maybe a little," Charlotte admitted. Her mom patted her cheek lovingly in response before telling her to wash up for dinner as she walked into the kitchen. Charlotte mindlessly hummed happily in response, lingering against the door.

She could still feel his lips on hers.

* * *

 **Hey guys! If you made it this far, I seriously appreciate your existence. This was my longest one so far, which surprised me. I wanted to finally make a chapter completely centered on Henry and Charlotte's relationship. Hopefully it was worthwhile!**

 **Let me know what you thought or what you'd want to read about next! Thanks for reading! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

The next day at school, Charlotte was so radiant with happiness she could almost skip through the halls. And the only one to blame was the blond boy who could make her heart race with one look.

They had texted until 1am that night talking about anything and everything (Henry had made sure to steer clear from topics involving his job and instead focused on his critically-renowned jokes and stories). They even walked to school together in the morning, in which they continued to talk and laugh while holding hands, something Henry especially wasn't used to. He was finally starting to feel _normal,_ and he loved it.

Charlotte had woken up that morning more excited than tired. Despite the lack of sleep, all she could think about was getting to see Henry again. The events from the night before replayed in her mind over and over again, and each time a wide grin appeared on her face. She decided to walk to school with Henry that morning, hoping Jasper wouldn't mind.

She had made sure to text her best friend, who she routinely walked with in the mornings before school. Suspiciously, he hadn't responded, and when she saw him in class he barely spoke to her. She had reminded him about their little expedition planned after school, and her curly-haired best friend merely nodded in reply. She had huffed in confusion, but decided she'd talk to him about it after school.

After the final bell of the day had rung, Charlotte stepped out of her chemistry class and towards her locker down the hallway. All day, her thought-out (and admittedly risky) plan had been playing over in her head. How many things could go wrong? Many. Was she even sure about what was going on? Nope. But she was still going to do it. And that's what worried her.

Her hands began to feel clammy as she tried to open her locker. She attempted the combination once, twice, three times, all with failure, before she shook the lock in frustration. _Get it together!_ she thought to herself as she took a breath and stepped back.

Suddenly she bumped into a tall figure behind her, startling her off her feet. Immediately a pair of strong and long-sleeved arms went around her, gripping her upper arms to steady her.

"Whoa," she heard the familiar voice of Henry in her ear. "Careful."

She instantly relaxed in his arms, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Oh," she spoke. "It's you." Henry made sure she was steady before moving to face her, his back against the lockers.

"Are you okay?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets, concern written over his face. "You seem a little out of it."

"Yeah, I'm good." Charlotte tried her best to come off as nonchalant as she avoided looking into his eyes. She had started to feel guilty for going behind his back.

Henry raised his eyebrows. "You sure?"

"I just can't get my locker open," she said quickly, gesturing in front of her. She attempted the combination again, "I've tried it three times and-" This time the locker opened as she pulled it, and Charlotte scoffed in surprise. The two looked at each other with wide eyes and goofy grins as Henry high-fived her.

"I guess I'm your good luck charm," Henry pointed with a smirk. Charlotte laughed as she put books away into the shelves of her locker.

"I wouldn't get too excited," she responded smartly. Henry playfully rolled his eyes, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"So," Henry started as she shut her locker closed. "Where are we going?" Charlotte gulped.

"Um, I was actually gonna meet up with Jasper," she answered truthfully. "We haven't hung out in a while." What she planned on doing wasn't necessarily relevant to the question.

Henry nodded as the two walked towards the doors of the school to exit. "That's cool. I actually should be-" Then, Henry's watch began beeping. He quickly shut it off after.

"There's my cue," he joked. "Gotta get to work. The shop's surprisingly busy on Fridays."

"Oh, really?" Charlotte questioned as they walked out the door. "When do you guys close?"

"Uh," Henry pondered for a moment. "I think we close at midnight today." Charlotte nodded to herself, taking a mental note.

As they reached off of school grounds, Charlotte spotted Jasper sitting on a nearby bench, waiting for her.

"Well, I guess I should get going, too," she said awkwardly. The usual ease that came in their conversations was not present with her as she desperately tried to suppress the bad feeling in her stomach. She pressed her lips together in a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. Henry turned to look at her with a grin.

"You're the best, you know that?" he stated suddenly. Charlotte felt her smile fade, feeling a pang of guilt in her chest.

"Why so sappy all of a sudden?"

"Because I'm talking about you." Charlotte shook her head, trying to keep from looking flustered in front of him. Just then, Henry's watch started beeping again. The blond groaned as he switched it off.

"I really should go. I'll text you later, okay?" he said before cupping her face to kiss her forehead. Charlotte simply hummed in content as she felt his warm lips press against her skin for a split second before he ran off. She sighed as she watched his retreading figure, her heart feeling out of place. _You're doing the right thing,_ she reassured herself for the umpteenth time that day. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea if she had to keep telling herself that.

Charlotte turned to see Jasper still sitting on the bench, waving his arm high when he met her gaze.

 _Well, here goes nothing._

She hurried over to her best friend as the curly-haired blond stood up to greet her.

"Ready?" he asked her when she was a few feet away from him. She nodded simply in reply, leading the two to start walking down the sidewalk.

"So what's the plan?" he asked.

"Oh, hey Charlotte, how was your day, Charlotte, nice to see you, Charlotte," she mocked. Jasper rolled his eyes, nudging her shoulder.

"C'mon, it's not like this is the first time I've seen you today," he pointed.

"Yeah, but you barely said a word to me when you did," she retorted, referring to earlier. "Were you okay? Were you in a bad mood or something?" Jasper scratched the back of his neck, remembering how he was feeling after his best friend and kinda-sorta-maybe-crush had texted him earlier letting him know she was blowing him off to walk with Henry.

"I was just bummed I had to walk alone," he replied simply. "I was already in a bad mood just because I'm not a morning person. Our walks are what usually get me out of bed." He looked down to his feet after unintentionally admitting something so, as Charlotte would say, _sappy._ Nonetheless, Charlotte playfully placed a hand over her heart in adoration, poking her bottom lip out in a pout.

"Aww, Jasp, when did you get so mushy?" she joked while elbowing his arm. Jasper rolled his eyes.

"I look forward to our walks, too. I'm sorry for ditching you," she apologized sincerely.

"It's not a big deal," he replied with a shrug. "Like I said, I was just in a mood."

"Well you won't be moody anymore because it won't happen again," she said with a grin. "I'll just hang out with Henry after school instead of in the mornings because those are reserved for my best friend." She looked up to give him a cheeky grin.

Jasper pressed his lips together in a concealed frown. "Great," he mumbled. He sighed, gazing down and taking an interest in his shoes. The pair continued down the road as Charlotte spoke.

"When do you have to be home, Jasp?" she asked suddenly.

"Uh, I don't know, I probably just need to let my mom know," he replied. "Why? How long's this gonna take?" Charlotte glanced away from his gaze before answering in a lower voice.

"Not too long," she murmured softly, pretending to inspect her fingernails. "Maybe, like, midnight."

"Midnight?!" Jasper exclaimed, coming to a stop. "You're kidding, right? You expect me to spend _all_ Friday night helping you with Henry?"

"We agreed on this!" Charlotte responded. Jasper rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, Jasp, it could be fun," she stated as the two started walking again. " _'Charlotte and Jasper: solving crime since nap time._ " She dramatically waved her hands in front of her, mimicking reading a headline. Jasper scoffed.

"Alright, whatever," he said. "But I like _Jasper and Charlotte_ better."

"Really? I think _Charlotte and Jasper_ has a better ring to it." Jasper rolled his eyes in response as Charlotte giggled alongside him.

"Well where are we going so I can inform my mother before she calls the police at 10pm wondering where I am?"

"My house," she answered. "It's gonna be a long night."

* * *

"You want me to _what?_ "

Charlotte and Jasper faced each other on her living room couch, Charlotte hugging her knees nervously while Jasper's legs dangled off the edge. She had just explained her plan to him in length, and Jasper did not seem too impressed.

It was pretty simple, actually. At around midnight, right before the shop closes, she and Jasper would go over to Junk 'N Stuff. Charlotte would stay outside and hide behind a bush while Jasper goes in there to stall Henry and his boss. Outside, Charlotte would be contacting the police and informing them about a case of illegal child labor at Junk 'N Stuff. By then, it would be past the legal time for which minors can work until, displaying perfect evidence to the cops. Soon enough, the police will arrive to arrest Henry's boss, Henry will be free, and Charlotte and Jasper would be his hero.

But Jasper didn't think it'd be that simple.

"So," Jasper began. "You want me to stall Henry and his boss? How do you know they'll be there?"

"Henry told me the store closes at midnight," Charlotte answered. "So if we get there right before, you could catch them before they leave and keep them there until the cops come."

"Okay, but how am I supposed to stall?" he asked.

"Just pretend you're looking for something to give to your mom as a gift," she stated. "Don't come off as suspicious."

"And what do I say when they ask why I came so late?" he questioned.

"You could say that your mom's birthday is tomorrow, so you're shopping around last minute," Charlotte suggested with a shrug.

"Why can't _you_ stall them and _I_ call the cops?" he asked. Charlotte sighed.

"Ever since we started dating and this plan has been in the back of my head, I can't think straight in front of him," Charlotte admitted, looking down at her feet on the couch. "It'd be better if I just stayed outside."

"You guys are dating?" Jasper asked suddenly. "Since when?"

"Oh, I completely forgot to tell you!" Charlotte exclaimed, moving to sit more comfortably with her legs crossed. "He kissed me last night. And I guess now we're dating." Jasper felt his heart drop to his stomach as Charlotte smiled at him. "Isn't that great?"

Jasper opened his mouth to speak again, then sighed, forcing a smile and nodding his head.

"That's great, Char," he replied sadly. "I'm happy for you." She beamed at him.

"So?" Charlotte leaned forward. "What do you say?" Jasper shook his head.

"I just have one more question," he spoke. "How sure are you that this plan is going to work? And that Henry is actually in danger?" Charlotte scoffed.

"Completely sure." Jasper raised his eyebrows, to which Charlotte sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Okay, maybe not _completely_ ," she said truthfully. Jasper shook his head, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Then why are we doing this if you're not sure?" he pressed. "You're planning on getting the police involved, Char. And with a pretty serious accusation, too."

"I know, I know," Charlotte admitted, shutting her eyes and placing a hand over forehead. "I know it sounds crazy. It seems like I'm just going off a gut feeling and I just-" She paused, hesitating to search for the right words as Jasper waited intently.

After a moment, the dark-haired girl met her best friend's eyes, "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't try." Jasper watched as Charlotte opened up; her expression was one of worry with her eyes wide and her teeth biting her lower lip in nervousness. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't once thought about how close they were sitting and how vulnerable she was right now. All he wanted was to wrap his arms around her in a warm hug, telling her everything was fine and that he's there for her. The image of her running into Henry's arms after their plan following through burned in his brain like a living nightmare. He _hated_ that he was helping her help _him._ He wish he had gotten himself out of it when he could have.

But as he watched the troubled girl of his dreams, he knew he wouldn't be able to leave her on this couch.

Jasper sighed. "You really care about him, huh?"

Charlotte looked up to meet his eyes again, before nodding her head slowly. Jasper let out the breath he was subconsciously holding, feeling his chest tighten. He shook his head before moving to face the TV.

"Good thing I'm here, then," he said, flipping the television on with the remote. Charlotte smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind him, where she was sitting.

"Love you, Jasp," she said softly in his ear. Jasper felt his breath catch in his throat at her words, then quickly gulped it down and cleared his throat.

"Love you, too. Now can you get off of me so we can play Call of Duty? Midnight isn't going to come fast," he said as he tossed her a controller. Charlotte grinned.

"You're on."

* * *

 **Hey guys!**

 **Sorry for the wait! I am completely submerged into school work and assignments and tests right now and slightly going crazy while I put off studying so please be patient with me. xD**

 **Also we're gonna pretend that their lockers don't open with fingerprint technology like on the show and instead have combination dials like normal schools. xD Are they still in junior high on the show? It looks like they've been in the same school forever and I feel like they should at least be sophomores by now. :P**

 **Did anyone see Budget Cuts? When Henry put his hand on Charlotte's arm all concerned when she had food poisoning I just about died.** xD

 **I forgot to mention this in the last author's note, but have y'all heard about Dan Schneider leaving Nickelodeon? And that they still want to renew Henry Danger for a fifth season even though it'll be without Dan? Can we talk about this tea please lol. Like aside from the fact that the channel just fired their main creator for shows (don't get me wrong, under reasonable circumstances), do y'all think we have hope for Chenry to happen in season 5 if he won't be there directing and shiz? Cause under new/different direction who knows where they'll go with the plot line. I don't wanna get my hopes up too high but who am I kidding I really hope they turn the show around! I love the show now and everything, but it could just be** _ **so much**_ **better and I'm excited to see how it goes with someone else in charge! What do y'all think? I'll end that there since it's already so long lol.**

 **Anyway, thanks so much for sticking around for this story! It really means a lot to me. :) Updates will be posted soon!**


	10. Chapter 10

Back in the Man Cave, Ray and Henry were getting into their disguises to finally visit the store supplying the Swellview robbers. It was 11:30pm, half an hour until they would close up shop and head over to Jimmy's Weapons and Machinery. Schwoz sat slumped over the couch, impatiently awaiting the revelations of Henry and Ray in his disguises while they dressed in Ray's room.

"Hurry up!" Schwoz shouted at the two from his spot on the couch. "We don't have all night."

As if on cue, Ray stepped out of his room with a smug smirk on his face. His eyes were shielded with a pair of dark sunglasses and a fake mustache framed his upper lip. His hair was hidden underneath a brown-haired wig that was long and reached his shoulders. A black leather jacket covered his torso and white tee underneath. He walked with his head held high, feeling confident in his disguise.

"What up?" Ray dragged dramatically, his voice altered with Schwoz's button. It came out deep and raspy, almost frightening compared to his normal voice. Schwoz leaned back against the couch after witnessing Ray, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a grin.

"I'm good," Schwoz spoke out loud, acknowledging his work on Ray's disguise.

"Okay, c'mon, Henry," Ray called to his sidekick.

"I don't want to do this," he yelled from Ray's room. "It's so embarrassing."

"Stop being a wuss and come outside!" Schwoz shouted. "We don't have much time before-"

The beeping of the monitors interrupted him. The security camera positioned on the ceiling of the lobby appeared on the screen, showing that someone had entered the store.

"Who would come here so late?" Schwoz asked as he and Ray approached the monitors.

"Who is it?" Henry shouted from Ray's room.

"Dammit, I forgot to turn the sign over to _closed_ on the door," Ray cursed to himself.

"Hello?" Henry called again. "What's going on?"

"It looks like your curly-haired friend," Ray shouted back. Henry gulped. _Charlotte?_

"What was his name? Jerry? Jackson?" Ray asked. Henry breathed a sigh of relief from Ray's room, then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Jasper?" he asked his boss. _What was_ he _doing here?_

"Henry?" Jasper's voice was heard through the monitors. "You here?"

"Henry, get out here already!" Schwoz called him. "Your friend wants you!"

"I can't let him see me dressed like this!" he shouted back. "He'll ask questions!" Ray audibly groaned.

"This is setting us back further in our plan!" Ray complained. "Just go change and see what he wants. Make it quick, then come back so we can leave."

"Okay, okay," he answered. A minute later, he was out and jogging towards the elevator in his usual attire of a hoodie and jeans. When he reached the top, he stepped out of the elevator and walked through the curtain, spotting Jasper as he looked through the odd antiques of the store.

"Hey Jasper," he spoke, approaching him. Jasper turned to meet Henry, a random object in his hands.

"Hey," he replied, looking around the store. "So this is where you work, huh?"

"Yup, this is the one," Henry nodded, stuffing his hands in the front pouch of his hoodie. "So, uh, what are you doing here?"

"It's my mom's birthday tomorrow and I forgot to get her a gift," Jasper explained. "So I thought I'd come here."

"Don't you think it's a little late to be shopping for a gift?" Henry asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I know, I, um," he stammered. "I just needed to get something fast, and this was the closest place still open." He hoped that it was as believable as Charlotte made it out to be. Henry nodded.

"Gotcha," he replied, taking a glance at his watch. "Well, uh, it was nice seeing you, but I actually have to close up now, so-"

"No!" Jasper exclaimed a little too loudly. Henry looked at him weirdly.

"Uhhh," the curly-haired boy dragged. "Help me find a gift first! Please, I need this, bro. Then I promise I'll be out of your hands." Henry bit his lip, pondering. He knew Ray would probably kill him for not making him leave and wasting time, but he also felt like he owed it to Jasper. He never really got to hang out with him, but he still wanted him to like him enough to be friends.

"Yeah, okay sure," he sighed. Jasper grinned. "Let's make this quick, so my boss doesn't get mad about, uh, paying me overtime." Henry cleared his throat after the white lie, then proceeded to look around for something Jasper could gift his mom. Jasper let out a sigh of relief, a bit of the nervousness he had earlier about their plan not working easing away. _This could actually work,_ he thought to himself. Just then, Jasper's phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket to reveal a text from Charlotte, who stood outside hiding in the bushes.

 _Char: get his boss to the front!_

"Oh yeah," he unintentionally spoke out loud. His eyes widened as Henry replied.

"What?" The blond questioned.

"Uh," Jasper coughed. "By the way, I never got to meet your boss," Henry furrowed his eyebrows in response.

"Why do you want to meet him?" he asked.

"You know," Jasper started, bringing a hand up to scratch the back of his neck as he thought of an excuse. "You're just _always_ here- except when you're at school, obviously- and I just wondered what he might be like." Henry narrowed his eyes at Jasper for a moment before resorting back to finding a gift.

"You don't want to meet him," Henry finally spoke. "Especially now. He gets, uh, a little moody- at night. You know, 'cause he would rather be asleep instead of, like, here."

"Oh, come on!" Jasper pestered. "To be frank, I'm probably never going to come here again. But I wanna meet the guy who keeps calling you during school! Just this once?" Henry scratched the back of his neck in nervousness. Should he call Ray? He'd probably murder him the second Jasper left.

"I don't know," Henry trailed, glancing at his watch. It was practically midnight now and Junk N' Stuff should have been closed.

"Please?" Jasper begged. Henry visibly cringed thinking about Ray yelling at him after this. But he just couldn't say no.

"Alright, alright," Henry gave in. Jasper fist-bumped the air, whispering a victorious "yes." As the blond left to retrieve his boss, Jasper looked behind him through the glass door, trying to make out Charlotte in the darkness. When he spotted her, she raised one index finger at him, indicating another minute more. His heart raced and his palms grew sweaty as he prepared for the events to follow.

Jasper took a deep breath as he tapped his foot anxiously, glancing towards the front door every few seconds. He didn't know exactly what to say to Henry's boss when he got here, so he was hoping by then the police would have arrived and would deal with it on their own.

After another moment, he could hear the faint sound of Henry and his boss whispering angrily from behind the curtain before finally a taller, built man walked through the curtain with Henry in tow. Jasper gulped simply at the sight of him. He was large and very muscular, and could definitely knock him out with one punch if he wanted to. _Charlotte_ so _owes me._

"Jasper," Henry started before placing a hand on Ray's shoulder. "This is my boss, Ray."

"Hey, how you doing, kid?" Ray spoke quickly and absentmindedly, bringing a hand out to shake Jasper's. Jasper grinned sheepishly at Henry's boss, their handshake firm and leaving him slightly intimidated.

"Good," he answered politely. "How about-"

"Yeah, we gotta get going, so," Ray cut him off short. He gave Henry a look and the blond nodded in reply.

"Sorry Jasp," Henry apologized to his friend, placing a hand behind his back and leading him towards the door. "Maybe you'll find a gift somewhere else-"

Suddenly, the door swung open and two police officers in uniform stomped in. Their large booted footsteps echoed against the floor, their expressions stern and harsh.

"Where's the manager?" one of the officers demanded. His voice boomed in the otherwise silent room, the tension in the room turning dense. Henry and Ray exchanged looks of both confusion and worry, while Jasper tiptoed away from the commotion.

Ray stepped forward. "Uh, I'm the boss here," he stated. "Can I help you with something, officer?" Ignoring Ray, the other officer approached Henry.

"You work here, kid?" the officer asked Henry, his voice a lot calmer and gentler than the officer addressing Ray.

"Yeah," Henry responded questioningly, his eyebrows knitted in confusion. "What's going on?"

The officer with Ray spoke again. "You're under arrest, sir." He brought out handcuffs from his back pocket and hastily took Ray by his wrists, stretching them behind his back to cuff him.

"Hey, what the hell?!" Ray shouted, trying to fight against the officer and free himself. "What did I do?"

"We have reason to believe you have gone against the child labor laws of Swellview with this employee and are condemning your business until further notice," the officer stated as he shoved Ray towards the door.

"What- child labor? No, y-you don't understand-" Ray stammered, his voice filling with fear.

"You have the right to remain silent," the officers spoke as they went out the door.

"Ray! No!" Henry shouted after his boss as he followed the officers. "You can't arrest him!"

"Kid, what is happening?!" Ray exclaimed as he was shoved into the cop car. His voice was strained at this point, and Henry felt his chest grow heavy with guilt, like he was to blame for Ray's arrest.

"Don't worry, Ray!" The blond reassured him as he followed them. "I'll come get you!" The car door shut right at the end of his words, and he could only faintly see his forlorn expression through the tinted windows.

"This is crazy!" Henry exclaimed to the officers. "He's hasn't done anything, I-I haven't been-"

"There've been accusations made against your boss, kid," one of the officers spoke. "We're handling this now."

"Accusations?" Henry repeated. "But who would-?" The officer nudged his chin in the direction behind Henry, raising his eyebrows. Confused, Henry turned around to see a head of familiar curls move abruptly behind a bush. His eyes squinted at the figure before widening in realization.

"Charlotte?" he asked, walking towards his girlfriend. She slowly and sheepishly stepped away from the bushes, revealing her presence. An awkward smile was all she could give him as she watched the shocked expression form on his face.

"Surprise," she said weakly. She silently thanked the cop as he lightened their awkward tension with a cough.

"We gotta run," the officer interrupted. "If you want to see your boss, he'll be in a holding cell for now down at the station." With that, he ducked into the passenger seat of the car and the two drove away. Henry sighed before turning back around to Charlotte.

"What is going on, Charlotte?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," she dragged, glancing at the ground. She was hoping to ease into the conversation when he wasn't as angry, but when she looked up to meet his now irritable gaze, she sighed and straightened up.

"Fine," she began, stepping closer to him. "Remember when we talked about me not getting involved in your work situation anymore?" Henry nodded impatiently.

"I might have gotten involved," she admitted quickly. She winced when he groaned and looked up to the night sky in exasperation.

He sighed before leveling with her vision to meet her eyes. His own were visibly darker and and wide with concern, his usual kind and lighthearted gaze completely vanished. "Charlotte," he asked again, his voice low and stern. "What. Did. You. Do?"

"Look, Henry," she started anxiously. "I'm sorry I lied to you. You asked me if I trusted you, when clearly I didn't-"

"Char-" He straightened up, shaking his head.

"But I was just worried about you! Okay?" She watched with concern as he continued to shake his head, now bringing his hands up to either sides of his face.

"You're just always so tired, and you come to school late all the time, and whenever I ask about work you get so defensive and run off. I would get so worried- I'd think of all these horrible things that could be happening to you..." Henry took a deep breath as Charlotte spoke apologetically, her own voice becoming strained.

"Charlotte, _please_ , just tell me-" he spoke again, his tone almost harsh with annoyance.

"And I'm sorry if I was wrong, but I just wanted to help you! And you can't-"

"Charlotte! Just tell me what you did!" he shouted at her angrily. She sucked in a breath, her eyes wide with shock. He had never shouted at her before.

"I called the police," she admitted. "It was my idea. I made Jasper come with me to distract you and I was here-outside- calling the police." Henry looked to Jasper who remained in the store watching from afar. After meeting eye contact the curly-haired blond quickly glanced away, pretending to have been looking at store merchandise. Henry shook his head, bringing his hands up to his face to press his temples in frustration. Charlotte let out the breath she was holding. _This was not going as I hoped._

 _"_ I told them everything-" she continued as he began to pace. "-about you, and where you worked, and how you always come home early in the morning and show up late to school. I told them that the hours your boss makes you work goes against the child labor laws of Swellview. I told them that you were here now, and that they should come right away." She waited anxiously for the boy pacing in front of her to say something. Instead he started whispering _'oh my God'_ and _'this can't be happening'_ repeatedly, tugging at the roots of his hair. Charlotte bit her lip nervously. _What did I do?_

"Henry?" she started softly. "Are you-"

"Dammit, Char!" he yelled suddenly, kicking a rock in front of him and causing the girl to jump, startled. "I told you not to get involved!"

"I know, I just wanted to help-"

"How could you have been helping if you didn't even know what was going on?" His voice was loud and angry as he approached her, and Charlotte took a few steps back.

"How is that my fault?" she threw back. "You never _told_ me what was going on!"

"Because I _can't_!" he shouted, putting his palms together.

"Why not?!"

"I just can't, Charlotte!"

"Why the hell not?" She repeated. "What could you _possibly_ have to keep secret even after your boss gets arrested for I guess the wrong reasons; even though we're _here_ , arguing, outside, in the middle of the damn night?"

Henry fell silent, sighing and placing his hands around his neck in distress. It was Charlotte who was angry now, while Henry could not find the right words to say anywhere in his entire being. His mouth opened slightly, as if to say something, then fell closed again with a shake of his head. He couldn't get himself to look her in the eyes and say something different than what he had been. He only looked up when he heard her sniffle.

Charlotte was looking down too, blinking back tears as she held her arms when a particularly chilly breeze swept through them. He saw and immediately moved his fingers to the zipper of his hoodie, wanting to give it to her and wrap around her shoulders. She stopped him before he could, taking a step back and positioning a hand in front him.

"Don't," she spoke softly, her voice breaking. He felt his heart sink to his stomach at the sound of her so vulnerable.

"Charlotte, let me just-"

"No," she said sternly, shaking her head. "You need to tell me, Henry." The blond sighed, shaking his head at the girl in front of him.

"I want to," he responded sadly. "But I just can't, Char." She pressed her lips together, not saying anything for a moment.

"So that's it?" she asked suddenly, crossing her arms in front of her chest and stepping towards him. "You're just going to continue keeping secrets from me."

"It's not like that," he defended. "If I could tell you, I would."

"That's the thing though, Henry," she replied, now close enough to him that if she went on the tips of her toes his lips would be on hers. "You can do whatever you want. You _could_ tell me; you just won't." Henry stared down at the girl in front of him, his heart aching. He definitely could not handle this. Being a 16-year-old kid and Kid Danger? Fine. But having to keep that secret from someone whom he cared so much for, and clearly cared about him, too? He wasn't only hurting himself now.

"You're right," he finally answered, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I guess I just won't tell you."

"Then _I_ guess we shouldn't be together." Charlotte took a step back after her own words, regretting them after they had left her mouth. Henry sucked in a breath, not expecting the words himself.

"I mean," she said quickly. "If you're going to keep secrets from me-"

"Maybe that'd be best," Henry finished for her. Charlotte whimpered as a shaky breath left her mouth. _This is_ definitely _not what I was hoping for._

"If that's what you want," she whispered back, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. While she had tried to hold them in as he stood in front of her, she simply lost the strength to.

"Of course that's not what I want," Henry replied as he stepped towards her, wanting to wipe her tears away. She resisted at first, but when he placed his hands over her face she couldn't help but melt into him, letting out a sob.

"Then why are you doing it?" she asked, her voice barely audible. She brought her own hands to cover his, hanging on to his fingers as if to stop him from leaving. Henry blinked back his own tears, swiping his thumbs across her cheeks gently to wipe away her tears.

"Because I don't want to hurt you anymore."

She looked up at him confusedly, her eyebrows furrowed as tears continued to fall from her cheeks.

"But how-"

"Ray was right," he spoke mainly to himself. "I can't have you be a part of my life."

He quickly pressed his lips to her forehead before she could say anything else, letting them linger there for a moment. Charlotte sucked in a breath at the sudden contact, refusing to exhale as if it was the only thing keeping them together. All too soon, he dropped his hands from her face and walked away.

Charlotte brought a hand to cover her mouth as she tried to stifle her incoming sobs. Jasper rushed to his best friend and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling to the ground. He moved her into his chest, her tears staining his sweatshirt as he tried to shush her.

"It's okay, Char," Jasper whispered into her ear. "I'm here." He let her simply cry for a few moments as he stroked her hair comfortingly, whispering soothing words to her.

After a few moments, she finally spoke. "I'm not surprised," she said quietly. "Of course _my_ first relationship only manages to last a day." Jasper couldn't help but let out a chuckle, and he felt his heart lighten when she rumbled against his chest with her own laugh.

He knew she'd be okay.

* * *

 **...Sorry. xD** **I know this sucks now, but it'll get better! Eventually. xD** **God, that was so dramatic! I was lowkey cringing at myself for writing something so cheesy. xD**

 **Anyways, lemme know what you thought! I'll have an update up asap. Thanks for reading! 3**


	11. Chapter 11

As the rest of Swellview slowly started to awaken with the morning sun, Henry rummaged through his bedroom searching for a measly- but seemingly significant- sheet of paper.

He hadn't slept a wink.

Henry had been creating a mess in his room since he returned home the night before, not wasting a second to do anything else. As the memories of that night threatened to replay in his mind, he subconsciously put aside all thoughts of anything else and decided that finding the work schedule that Ray printed for him years ago when he began his job was the most important thing he could do right now.

Of course, Henry did not think to just wait until Junk 'N Stuff opened to ask Schwoz to find it in his digital files and print another one. No, he thought if he was not looking for the copy he had himself _right now_ as his best friend stood innocently behind bars, he was doing Ray a disfavor.

In reality, Ray would have wanted Henry to get rest, as any good friend would. Their situation- though unfavorable- could be resolved the next morning. And though he pretended not to, Henry knew this. But if he were to wait patiently until the next morning and lay in bed attempting to sleep, he knew he'd have to face his heavy loaded thoughts, reliving the events of the night before over and over.

And he didn't want that.

So as he scrambled throughout his desk drawers, papers flying everywhere, his hair a mess and his eyes wide and anxious, Henry continued to look for his damned work schedule.

A loud and aggressive series of knocks were suddenly heard by the blond as his little sister, Piper, banged on his door.

"Henry!" she shouted before opening the door herself. "Keep it down! It's six in the morn- oh my God." Her mouth dropped at the sight of Henry and the state of his bedroom. His bed was filled with stray supplies, his blankets fell to the floor, his desk drawers remained pulled open and the floor contained what looked to be a million different sheets of worthless paper.

"What happened in here? Did your room get hit with a tornado or something?" She asked bewildered as she cautiously stepped into his room, avoiding the objects on the floor.

"I'm looking for something," he replied dismissively, not looking up from where he was. "Go back to your room." Piper looked at her older brother who seemed anxious for some reason unknown to her. Her face scrunched up in confusion as she asked, "What's up with you?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked absentmindedly, still not having made eye contact with her. Piper simply glared at him in reply before stepping closer to him.

"What are you looking for, anyway?" She asked.

"My work schedule," he responded, finally turning around to look at her. "Have you seen it?"

"No," she answered truthfully. "Why do you need it?"

"It's a long story," he sighed, going back to his search.

"So, let's hear it," she said firmly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Henry glanced up to give his sister a look.

"I can't right now, okay?" he responded. "And if you can't help, just go back to bed." Piper scoffed as she watched Henry return to rummaging through his desk drawers. She hesitated for a moment, before rolling her eyes and going to open his closet.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked his younger sister. Now it was Piper who turned to give him a look.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She rolled her eyes before shuffling through the hangers of clothing in his closet. Henry couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face as his usually rude and annoying sister voluntarily decided to help him.

"Have you looked in here yet?" she asked as she tried to reach over to the shelf above the clothing rack. Henry stood up from where he was bent over looking into his desk drawers and glanced at Piper struggling to reach the top of the shelf.

"No, actually," he said in surprise. "I forgot about that shelf." Piper felt around the surface of it with her fingertips as she couldn't actually see the top of the shelf from where she stood. Her eyebrows raised when she felt something like paper and grabbed it.

"Maybe this-" she began before looking at what was in her hands. "Oh." Henry walked over to her to see what she held, looking over her shoulder.

It was an old photo from when they were a lot younger- Henry was nine years old and Piper was just five. They were at their dad's old lake house, before he sold it on a business venture. Their family used to go there every summer vacation, and Henry had some of his happiest memories there. In the photo, the siblings were both laughing hysterically in the lake, Piper holding onto Henry as she was just learning how to swim.

Piper and Henry looked at the photo with nostalgia, light smiles on both their faces.

"Look at us," she finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," he said. "What were we laughing at?" Piper laughed a bit herself, shaking her head.

"I can't remember. I was only, like, five here." He chuckled in response, thinking back to his own memories. His eyes widened when it hit him.

"Oh, I remember!" he exclaimed, turning towards Piper. "Dad was fishing, and he got super excited when he finally caught one, remember? But he couldn't get it in his hands 'cause it kept flopping around, and it ended up just falling back into the lake." Henry laughed as he relived the memory.

"Oh yeah!" she responded, laughing with him. "He looked ridiculous trying to catch that fish." Henry nodded and the two continued to laugh, and he forgot what he was doing for a moment.

Until he didn't forget, and the good moment vanished away as he remembered Ray was in jail, and he had just broken up with Charlotte, and Jasper probably hated him. He had stopped laughing at this point, plopping sulkily onto his bed.

Piper watched as his brother's mood and expression changed completely in a matter of seconds, before sitting down on his bed next to him.

"Why do you need your work schedule, again?" She asked, this time her tone a lot more sincere.

Henry sighed as he glanced up at his little sister who gazed at him with what he thought looked like worry in her eyes, which was very unexpected coming from her. He raised his eyebrows in question.

"You really want to know?" he assured. She rolled her eyes.

"Why else would I ask?" Henry chuckled lightly before explaining the events of the night before. He told her how his boss was arrested for the wrong reasons, and how he was practically his only friend and that's why he cared so much. He told her about Charlotte; how they met and their short-lived relationship, why he felt like he had to break up with her. He even mentioned Jasper, and how he thought he was almost making an actual guy friend his age. And he told her how much he was hurting, because he was, and he never got to talk about it with anyone until now.

Of course, he said all this without mentioning he was Kid Danger and that he worked for Captain Man because that wasn't _entirely_ significant to the situation.

"Wow," Piper spoke finally after her brother's rant. Henry sighed.

"Yeah."

"We really need to talk more, huh?" Henry laughed.

"So, your boss. You need your work schedule to get him out of jail?"

"He was arrested under accusations of administering child labor, so I thought if I showed the police my work schedule, they'd see he's not really making me work excessive hours," he explained. "They just saw me hanging out there. I wasn't actually working."

"Why do you hang out there so much, anyway?" she asked.

"Uh, y-you know," he stammered. "He's my friend, so. I like it there." Piper snickered.

"You need more friends." Henry rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and I almost did, remember?" he stated, suggesting from his previous confessional.

"Right, right, Charlotte and Jasper," she nodded. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again.

"You know she was kind of right though." Henry looked at Piper, his eyebrows knit in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"In thinking something was going on," she stated as if it was obvious.

"But she was wrong-"

"Yeah, but you can't blame her for that," she told him. "Judging from how you've been acting recently, I'd think something was up, too."

"What do you mean?" he asked. "How have I been acting?"

"You're just-" she looked up as if searching for the right word. "So distant now. Like, you're here, 'cause you live here. But that's it. It's like you're not actually present sometimes." Henry looked down into his lap where his hands laid.

"And that's just from what I see when you're at home, which you never are anymore," she continued. She paused, waiting for him to say something, then sighed when he didn't.

"Why do you think we don't have moments like these anymore?" She placed the photo in his hands, and Henry felt his heart tug a little at his sister's words. He looked at the photo sadly, tears in the back of his eyes, before he heard Piper snicker.

"Are you crying?" She asked in surprise. Henry turned from her to blink them away.

"No!" he said defensively. "It's uh, dusty in here." Piper nodded.

"Right," she said sarcastically. She watched as he laughed a little himself. Leave it to Piper to tease him at his most vulnerable state.

"Henry," she started. "You have to stop pushing people away. Open up, and let her help you." The blond sighed. _I can't,_ he thought.

"She sounds like a good person, and trustworthy," she continued. "Just talk to her. I'm sure she'll understand and respect your decision." Henry looked at Piper when she said this. Maybe she was right.

"Don't let go of a good thing." Henry thought about this for a moment, realizing how right she was.

He needed to talk to Charlotte.

"Wow," he spoke. "Have you always been this good at advice?" Piper laughed, pushing him slightly.

"Maybe you would know if you talked to me more," she stated.

"Okay, okay, fine," he responded. "Tell me about your problems." Piper hesitated before speaking.

"Jana Tetrazzini is on my last nerve with her latest tweet," she said angrily all of a sudden. "Do you know what she-"

"Beat her up," Henry interrupted. Piper raised her eyebrows.

"Really? That's your advice?"

"Mhm. That's how we do it." Piper scoffed.

"Great. Really great advice, Henry," she said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Piper glared at him as her brother laughed. She rolled her eyes turning away, before her gaze set on something in the distance.

"What?" he asked her. Piper got up from the bed and approached his closet, before squatting down and reaching over underneath the hanging clothing. She pulled out a crumpled up wad of paper, then stood up.

"Is this it?" She asked. Henry's eyes widened as he rushed over to her, taking the crumpled ball and opening it up, revealing none other than his work schedule.

"You found it!" he exclaimed. "Oh my God, Piper, thank you!" He swooped down to give her a quick sloppy kiss on her cheek before rushing out his bedroom door.

"Ew! Gross, Henry!" she shouted back, frantically wiping her cheek. "You're so disgusting! Mom!" She ran down the hall to her parents' bedroom. And as Henry ran out of the house that morning, he finally believed things were looking up.

* * *

"I'm here for Raymond Manchester?"

Henry stood at the front desk in the Swellview Police Station, schedule in hand while frantically trying to catch his breath. He had ran the fifteen blocks to get there because that was the first thing he thought of and logic was not really a factor in Henry's decisions nowadays. The officer behind the desk looked at him with an unamused expression.

"All visitors must check in with ID," he stated as if it was rehearsed.

"No," Henry shook his head. "I'm not here to visit. I want to get him out of jail." The officer raised his eyebrows.

"You here with bail?" he asked him.

"No, um," Henry coughed, wishing he had planned what he was going to say. "My friend- well, boss- was arrested last night because the police thought he had violated some child labor laws. I just wanted to prove that-"

"Oh, you're here for the buff guy who came in last night," the officer finally understood. "Let me pull up his file." Henry drummed his fingers anxiously against the counter as the officer typed away on his keyboard. After a few moments, he spoke.

"Ah, here it is," he announced suddenly, leading Henry to abruptly straighten his posture. "Raymond Manchester. Arrested for violating Swellview's child labor laws and administering excessive work hours to a minor. He's in a holding cell, so there's no guarantee we'll arrest him with a sentence."

"And you can't sentence him without any evidence, right?" Henry spoke up. "Look, _I'm_ the minor, okay? I've worked for Ray at Junk 'N Stuff since I was thirteen, and I _promise_ he hasn't made me work any more than I should. If you would just-" Henry moved to slide his work schedule to the officer before he was interrupted.

"It says you were there at the time of arrest, which was approximately 12:07 am," the officer pointed.

"I know, I-I know that looks bad, but I was only there because I _wanted_ to be. Ray is, uh, a family friend, which makes _us_ friends. And I like being there when I'm not at home. I'm only there voluntarily. Here-" Henry handed the officer his work schedule. "This is how much Ray actually makes me work in a week. And it doesn't go against the law. It's practical." The officer wore a doubtful expression as he looked at the schedule.

"Yeah, these are abiding by the laws," he said as he read the schedule. His eyes squinted when he glanced at the top of the page. "This was printed three years ago. You don't have a recent one?" Henry ran a hand through his hair in nervousness.

"No, I don't," he answered truthfully. The officer raised his eyebrows. Henry hesitated before thinking of what to say.

"But only because I suggested he stopped printing them," he spoke. "The hours were always the same anyway. And you know, just trying to save trees." Henry gave the officer an apologetic grin.

"I don't know kid," the officer began. "We don't understand why we would get an accusation like that if there wasn't some suspicious reason. I think I'm going to have to keep him in there until further notice."

"No, wait, please," Henry begged. "I can explain that, too. The girl who called with the accusation was my girlfriend- I mean ex-girlfriend. She was worried why I seemed tired at school, and she's a little impulsive- or a lot impulsive, actually- and decided to call the police about my job, thinking I was being overworked. I promise I'm not. I'm tired because I'm a teenager and don't go to bed until 2am because I, uh, like video games. And TV." Henry watched as the expression of the officer changed as he said this, hoping he was being believable.

"Sounds like a pretty big jump she made, then, don't you think?" the officer inquired. "Why would she do that?" Henry sighed before answering.

"Because she cares about me. And I don't tell her everything because I'm not a good boyfriend and like to keep to myself and not get others involved with my personal life so I don't burden anyone." Henry felt the tension in his shoulders release a bit following the little confession. While he wouldn't normally tell his problems to a complete stranger, he knew he had to do this for Ray. He was not leaving here without him.

"Huh," the officer leaned back into his chair. "Is that why you broke up with her? Because you didn't want to burden her?" Henry was surprised by the officer's reaction of asking him about his relationship. _Was this still about Ray?_

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Henry responded awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "So my fri-"

"You gotta let people in your life, kid," the officer told him. "Don't hold back. It sounds like she wanted to be burdened." Henry raised his eyebrows. _I'm getting advice from the weirdest people today._

"Um, thanks," he replied. The officer nodded.

"What about Ray? Can he leave now?" Henry asked.

"Oh, right," the officer began. "Well, it looks to me that he's innocent. And since there was never any evidence brought up, I'll let him go."

"Seriously?" Henry exclaimed.

"Yeah," the officer repeated. "Come with me." He got up from his desk, grabbing the keys to the cells and walked into the center as Henry followed. After passing through a few cells the officer stopped and unlocked one.

"Raymond Manchester?" he called. Ray turned around to see him and Henry outside the cell. His face lit up when he saw Henry.

"You're being released," he stated. Ray grinned before turning around back to another inmate.

"It was nice knowing you, Fred," he said to him, shaking his hand.

"You too, Ray Ray," Fred responded sadly. Ray pressed his lips together before meeting Henry outside the cell. The officer walked away from the two. Ray grinned before reaching out to hug his sidekick.

"Took you long enough," he joked.

"Made a friend already?" Henry asked.

"Yeah, Fred's a good guy," he replied. Henry laughed.

"I told you I'd get you out of here." They released from their embrace and Henry moved to scratch the back of his neck.

"Look, Ray," he started. "I'm sorry. This was my fault." Ray raised his eyebrows, waiting for Henry to explain.

"Charlotte called the police on you. I told her not to get involved, and she got worried and thought you were blackmailing me or something, and called the cops."

"What?!" Ray exclaimed. Henry reluctantly nodded.

"Why would she do that? You said you stopped hanging out with her!" Henry glanced down at his shoes sheepishly.

"Henry," Ray said firmly. "Did you stop hanging out with her or not?" Henry sighed.

"I tried to," he spoke, and Ray threw his arms up in exasperation. "But she cares about me. Ray. And I was hurting her. You can't make me do that."

"But _she_ can get me arrested? What don't you understand? If I ask you to do something, you do it because I'm your _boss_ ," Ray scolded, shoving a finger at Henry's chest. Henry shook his head.

"No, Ray," he defended. "You can tell me what to do in Junk 'N Stuff and on missions but this is _my_ life. And you can't control who I decide to talk to or be friends with."

"I'm trying to protect _you_ ," Ray insisted, his voice falling to a whisper. "Our secret. _Your_ identity. You know what happens if word gets out who we are."

"Yes, I do, but I trust her, Ray," Henry said. "She's not going to tell anyone. Not even Jasper if I ask her not to." Ray scoffed.

"So now you want to tell her," Ray said. "That's against our oath, Henry."

"I know, but-"

"I told you what will happen if you break it." Ray's voice was firm and serious, which had Henry taken aback.

"You'd fire me?" Henry asked in disbelief. "Just for telling her who I am? After everything we've been through?"

"You'd give me no choice," Ray responded with a shrug. "I don't know if she's trustworthy."

"But _I_ do," Henry persisted.

"Really? Are you sure? Because it didn't really seem like it when she promised not to get involved and then _called the cops on me_."

"That was different! She didn't know what was going on! And if I just tell her-"

"No," Ray stopped him, shaking his head. "If you tell her who you are, you're fired." Henry scoffed in disbelief as Ray started towards the exit.

"C'mon, Ray," Henry followed him. "You can't do that. You need me."

"I've worked without a sidekick before," Ray stated. "And I sure can do it again."

"But what about the robbers?" Henry asked as they were out the door. "You're never going to get catch them without me." Ray turned around when he said this, raising his eyebrows.

"I'll be just fine," he said to Henry, stepping closer to him and making Henry take a step back. "Go run to your girlfriend." Ray turned and walked away in the direction of Junk 'N Stuff, while Henry jogged to keep up.

"C'mon, Ray!" Henry shouted after him. "Don't do this!"

"You're fired, Henry!" Ray shouted back, turning to face him one last time. Henry sucked in a breath at his words, in shock.

"Return your gum as soon as possible." And with that, Ray walked away from the blond, leaving Henry speechless on a sidewalk corner.

He didn't run after him.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I'm so so sorry for the extremely late update! May has been the most stressful month for me with a million different exams and things going on. I barely had time to write, and when I did, it just came out terrible and I didn't want to publish a shitty chapter for you all. I wish I put out a sort of author's update telling you guys that, but I didn't think of it until yesterday and I just decided to publish an actual update.**

 **I'm currently in between finals as this is my last week of school, which means I'll only be busy for another week. After, I promise you will definitely be getting more frequent updates! I'm aiming for one per week, but if I have more time on my hands there could even be more than one a week.**

 **My goal is to have this story completed by this summer. It's been going on longer than it should've with all my hiatuses and you don't deserve that. For the readers who have been sticking by this story since the beginning, I seriously want to thank you! I appreciate your patience and for continuing to read even though I truly suck at updating. And for new readers, thank you, too! I promise you'll be getting the end of this story soon! 3**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the little Henry/Piper sibling scene. I know it seemed pretty OOC for Piper, but this was just how I always wished to see their relationship portrayed on the show. Especially since their older now (Piper's what, like 13? 14?) I feel it makes more sense to have more mature scenes between them rather than Piper just constantly screaming at him and I wish we got to see that on the show.**

 **Also sorry if you hated this ending. I know it was probably not what you wanted to read after a month's wait but there'll be a happier one soon! 3**

 **Thank you so much for reading! Sorry this A/N got so long. xD I appreciate your understanding with me and your patience with this story and I hope you see to its end! Look out for an update soon!**


	12. Chapter 12

"It's _clean_ ," Jasper reassured his curly-haired best friend as he watched her wipe down the counter for the umpteenth time that night. Charlotte rolled her eyes in response.

"I missed a spot," she retorted defensively, spraying the disinfectant repeatedly onto another area of the counter.

It had been twenty-four hours since Henry had broken up with her, and Charlotte's reactions to coping included (but were not limited to) lashing out on Jasper, completing all of her school assignments (some months in advance), and picking up extra shifts at the Swell Café. Despite all the attempts at forgetting about him, the memory of his brown eyes, strong arms and soft lips would not leave her thoughts.

And it was driving her _crazy._

It was now a few minutes past midnight, peeking into Sunday morning. Charlotte and Jasper were the only ones in the Swell Café, the time of closing being an hour ago. Though being advised to leave from both Jasper and Liz, her coworker, Charlotte remained in the shop, deciding that she could clean up a bit more. Jasper, being her best friend and considering her time of need, felt obligated to stay with her in case she ended up cleaning until opening time the next morning.

"Charlotte," Jasper deadpanned. "It's _Sunday_." She pretended to look down at her wrist where a nonexistent watch was wrapped around.

"Huh, you're right," she responded. "You should head home." Jasper rolled his eyes.

" _You_ should, too," he said, standing up from the coffee table he was leaned against before.

"I'm not done working," she pointed. "Stacy said I can leave when I think everything's set for tomorrow, and frankly, I don't." Jasper groaned.

"Everything is perfect, Char," he exasperated. "Please, can we just go home?"

"I said you can leave!" Charlotte gestured aggressively towards the door. "No one's asking you to stay. There's the door." She resumed wiping the counter, a little more violently than before. Jasper scoffed, slightly hurt. He was used to it at this point though, after she'd lashed out on him at least seven times earlier that day. He crossed his arms across his chest before approaching her behind the counter.

"Just let me finish, okay?" Charlotte said, her voice softer. "You can go home if you want."

"I'm not leaving you." Jasper laid a hand over hers, stopping her from continuing on her cleaning spiral. Charlotte looked at their hands, and Jasper felt his heart start to throb in his chest. He slipped his hand away before she could get the wrong idea, and Charlotte went back to cleaning the counter.

"Char, listen to me," Jasper pressed. She continued to ignore him.

"You don't need him, okay?" Charlotte took in a sharp breath when he said this, ceasing movement momentarily. She sighed briefly before going around the counter to clean the tables again.

"I didn't say anything about him," she spoke in reply. "So why are you bringing him up?"

"Because that's obviously why you're still here at work cleaning tables and not home in bed sleeping," Jasper responded matter-of-factly.

"No, I'm cleaning because I want this place clean," she defended. "Henry's got nothing to do with it." Jasper raised his eyebrows.

"Or are you here cleaning because it's a distraction from thinking about him like you would if you were at home trying to sleep?" Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I think I do." Charlotte scoffed, returning to her task at hand.

"You know you can talk to me," Jasper stated.

"There's nothing to talk about," she replied with a shrug.

"Why are you being so stubborn?" he asked. "You'll feel better if you talked about it."

"Fine," Charlotte said, throwing her rag on top of the table she was just cleaning. "Let's talk."

"Really?" Jasper asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," she stated. "Let's talk about how crazy I was to form such a _ridiculous_ plan based on plain suspicion and no evidence." Charlotte placed her hands on her hips.

"Or how crazy _you_ were to go along with it! Why didn't you stop me, Jasper?" Her voice was rising in built-up anger, and Jasper shook his head.

"You can't be serious," he responded. "You're blaming me?" Charlotte pressed her fingers to her temples, taking short breaths.

"I'm not blaming you," she finally answered. "Of course not. I just wish you stopped me because I was obviously not smart enough to realize how dumb the plan was on my own." Jasper sighed.

"You _are_ smart," he reassured, walking towards her. He placed both his hands on either of her shoulders. "He was being totally unreasonable by trying to shut you out of something clearly serious about his life."

"Right?" she agreed, her eyes beginning to well with tears. "What could have been _so_ classified about a sixteen-year-old's part-time job? It's not like he could be part of the Secret Service or something." Jasper shrugged.

"I just wish he told me," she said, her voice slightly strained. Jasper's lower lip fell in a playful pout as he 'aww-ed' at her, pulling her in for a hug. She sighed as she wrapped her arms around his waist, letting her tears fall for the first time since the night he broke up with her. And each time, Jasper was there to hold her.

"Thank you, Jasper," she mumbled into his chest. He suddenly felt overwhelmed with his feelings for her, his heart racing and begging for him to tell her. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"Uh, Charlotte?" he asked nervously. She faintly hummed in response, not moving from his chest. He knew he had to look at her when he told her, so he reluctantly pulled away.

"There's something I have to tell you," he said slowly. Charlotte raised her eyebrows.

"What is it, Jasp?" she asked sincerely. Jasper looked at her nervously, fiddling with his hands before taking her own and leading her to a table so they could sit down.

"Whoa, this must be serious," she joked. When she saw he didn't laugh, her expression changed to one of concern.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice filled with worry. Jasper looked down to where his fingers silently drummed against the table. His foot was tapping anxiously underneath, and he could feel the throbbing of his heartbeat beneath his chest growing with every passing moment.

Until Charlotte placed her hand over his, setting his nervous antics on pause and allowing Jasper to meet her kind gaze.

"You can tell me anything," she said, her lips turned in a thoughtful smile. And that's when Jasper knew he had to ignore all the doubts filling his mind about how everything will change and tell his best friend he was in love with her. He moved his hand so he was holding hers.

"Listen, Char," he began, swallowing nervously. "I-I know the timing is awful, since you and Henry just broke up, but this has just been eating me alive and I can't hold in how I feel any longer." Charlotte felt her own heart begin to race as she held her breath hoping he was not about to say what she thought he was.

"I like you, Charlotte," he stated firmly. She felt her breath hitch in the back of the throat before letting out the one she was holding.

"I have since the eighth grade." Charlotte felt a rush of new emotions overtake her, tears in her eyes threatening to fall again but for a completely different reason. She shook her head as she tried to respond.

"W-What- how? How did this happen?" she asked.

"I actually started having feelings for you since the seventh grade dance," he admitted. "I remember just thinking how beautiful you were, and how I suddenly felt nervous around you during our slow-dance." Charlotte tore away her gaze from him, suddenly unable to look her best friend in the eye.

"It didn't register in my head that I was getting feelings for you at first," he continued. "It wasn't until I saw you on the first day of eighth grade that I knew, because I had missed seeing you so much while I was away at camp." Charlotte had begun taking in deep breath as Jasper spoke, hoping it would calm the now pounding heartbeat in her chest.

"I went by your house to walk with you to school, and as soon as you stepped out the door and smiled at me, I knew I was in love you." Charlotte whimpered when he said this, her chest aching at her best friend's words.

"You're in love with me?" She repeated in a voice just above a whisper. Jasper nodded, a faint smile upon his lips. Then there was a deafening silence between the two as Charlotte was rendered speechless. It wasn't until Jasper cleared his throat that she knew she had to say something.

"Jasp," she started sadly. "I-I don't know what to say."

"Just tell me how you feel," he replied, giving her hand a squeeze. Charlotte nodded.

"I guess I'm in shock," she stated. "We've been best friends for so long, you know? I never would have known you felt that way." Jasper shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I have a pretty good way of hiding it," he admitted. "Especially since Henry came along." Charlotte swallowed nervously.

"And that's another thing," she said slowly. "He and I just broke up, Jasper. And I'm not ready to be in another relationship with anyone right now."

"No, I understand that," he nodded. Then after moment, "But say if Henry wasn't in the picture." Charlotte raised her eyebrows.

"Would you want to be with me?" She looked down at their hands as he intertwined their fingers, knowing that what she was about to say could ruin their friendship forever.

"I can't give you the answer you want," she finally spoke, her voice strained as she pulled her hand away from his. Jasper felt his heart drop to his stomach at her words, his expression immediately altering to one of hurt.

"I'm so sorry, Jasper," she apologized, stifling a sob. "I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"Well you kind of did," he answered, getting up from the table.

"Stop, that's not fair," she defended, getting up with him.

"What isn't fair is how you seem to fall head over heels for the wrong people when I've been here all along!" Jasper was clearly angry now, and he made his way towards the door to exit.

"What do you want me to say, Jasper?" she shouted back at him, tears streaming down her face. Jasper turned to look at her with one hand on the doorknob, wanting to wrap her in a hug and stop her from crying.

"Nothing." He opened the door to leave.

"What happened to 'I'm not leaving you?'" She asked. Jasper stopped in his tracks but refused to face her.

"Don't leave, please," she begged, grabbing his wrist. "I can't lose you, too." He remained in the doorway for a moment more, before walking away and slamming the door behind him.

And that's when Charlotte let all her tears fall as she cried like it was all she knew how to do. She cried for Henry and for Jasper and most profoundly herself, feeling at fault for the failure of both relationships.

So when someone started knocking on the glass door of the café as Charlotte had her face in her hands, she shouted:

"We're _closed!_ Don't you see the damn sign?!" She was prepared for a snark comeback that she would in turn ignore because frankly she could care less about the opinion of someone wanting midnight coffee right now.

But what she wasn't prepared for was the smashing of the glass door by that someone's crowbar and the shards of glass that quickly sprawled across the floor she had just swept. And she definitely was not expecting there to be more than one person; four tall built men each wearing strange masks to be exact. But what shocked her the most was when two of the men grabbed her by the arms, another covered her mouth muffling her scream, and another pulled out a gun.

Yeah, she certainly did not expect that.

* * *

 **Oops. xD**

 **Yikes, sorry for the dramatics again, guys! I think I've been watching too much of Jane the Virgin recently and the narrator is rubbing off on me. xD**

 **Please let me know your thoughts! I'll have another update posted ASAP! Thanks for reading! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

Henry sullenly treaded the path from his house to Junk 'N Stuff, his hands sunk into the pouch of his hoodie and his footsteps echoing against the pavement. The ominously cloudy and dark midnight sky along with the chilling autumn breeze sent a shiver down his spine, and he pulled his hood over his head. Returning his hands to his pocket, he felt the tube of bubblegum and a frown appeared on his face.

After Ray had fired him, Henry wasn't exactly sure of where to go. It was Saturday, meaning he had no school, and he usually spent any time outside of school in the Man Cave. He wanted to talk to Charlotte, but figured he needed to give her enough space before doing so. He could've gone home, but his parents were out and so was Piper, and staying in bed where he would just sleep or wallow in sadness all day did not particularly appeal to him.

So, Henry took a walk.

He walked all throughout the streets of Swellview, stepping into any and every shop or building that caught his eye. He skimmed countless racks of clothing, tried every free sample at a Japanese supermarket, and pet every dog he came across, namely golden retrievers. And for a few hours, he was content in being by himself. It wasn't as if his solo field trip allowed him to forget his current situation; it remained in his thoughts throughout the day. But he was able to say he spent a day on his own and did not once feel lonely. And that felt pretty important.

So it wasn't until he got home late that night, plopped onto his bed and rolled over to see his tube of Kid Danger bubblegum blanketed by his covers that he remembered he had to return it. And now he was going to drop them off.

On his way, he imagined what the interaction with Ray might be like. Perhaps it'd be silent; Henry would simply hand the gum to Ray or place it on the table. Or maybe it'd be really awkward and Ray would try to make small talk or something. He definitely did not want that to happen. He couldn't imagine having small talk with someone as close to him as Ray.

Maybe he'd try to get Ray to come to his senses. He was angry before, acting on impulse. Maybe after having the day to think about it, he changed his mind.

But he knew it was silly to get his hopes up, so Henry proceeded towards Junk N' Stuff without a clue in mind of what to expect.

As he passed by the shops he had visited earlier, he looked to see that their previous welcoming and full-of-life aurora had disappeared, leaving them dark and vacant behind locked doors with signs that read _CLOSED_. The only source of light that filled the otherwise pitch-black streets came from the tall lampposts that stretched across town. As he walked further, he was surprised to notice one shop with its lights still on, allowing it to stand out amongst the other unlit stores. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The only shop he knew of to remain open this late was Junk 'N Stuff, and he still had a few means to go until he got there.

It wasn't until he approached closer that he heard loud sounds of breaking furniture and gut-wrenching screams that he started running towards the lit shop. When he was finally a block away, his heart dropped to his stomach when he noticed the sign above the store: _Swell Café._

 _Charlotte_.

He took off towards the store as fast as his legs could take him when her name captured his thoughts and all he could think was _please don't let her be hurt._

When he reached the outside of the café, he looked through where the glass window used to be and noticed what looked like to be a million shards of glass on the floor. He saw three tall men in masks searching for something (most likely money) and breaking whatever they came across while doing so. And then he saw another man in the same attire, firmly holding the girl who had his heart with a gun positioned to her head, and Henry felt as if his whole world suddenly came crashing down.

Without a second thought, Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out the tube of bubblegum he was going to return and removed a ball of gum. He was about to pop it in his mouth when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"What are you doing?" It was Ray, dressed as Captain Man, about to enter the Swell Café. "I thought I told you to return those to me as soon as possible."

"I need to go in there," Henry replied firmly, tossing the gum into his mouth and proceeding to chew. Ray shook his head.

"N-n-n-n-no, spit that out right now," he demanded, "you're not Kid Danger anymore." Henry shrugged in response.

"Doesn't matter," he answered mid-chew, "you'll get your gum back after I go in there and help Charlotte." Ray threw his hands in the air in exasperation as Henry turned to Kid Danger.

"Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte," Ray repeated in a tone of annoyance. "Why am I not surprised?" Henry stepped forward only to be stopped by Ray.

"Ray," he deadpanned.

"What?"

" _Move._ "

Ray scoffed as Henry nudged him to the side and entered into the café. Right away he started to attack two of the men, avoiding their attempts at him with ease thanks to his hyper-motility. Suddenly another robber came from behind him and swung a chair onto his back, causing Henry to fall forwards and groan out in pain.

"Kid!" Ray yelled. Then Ray was into action, fighting against two of the robbers as Henry attempted to reach Charlotte whilst fighting off another. Charlotte's screams of terror, though muffled by the gloved palm of one of the men, sent goosebumps up Henry's arm, and he ached to get her to safety.

"Don't worry!" Kid Danger shouted to her amidst dodging the robbers' attacks. "I'll get you out of here!" All Charlotte could do was blink back her tears away and try to think of something, _anything_ she could do. To her dismay, she was physically incapable of freeing herself from the strong man who held her hostage.

After a series of strategically placed moves, the robber that once occupied Henry was now momentarily on the ground. Henry used this as an advantage and approached the man holding Charlotte, but stopped himself abruptly when the man repositioned the gun to her temple.

"One more step and I pull the trigger!" The masked figure's voice boomed throughout the shop, causing Charlotte to shut her eyes tightly and begin to shake with fear. Henry gulped, immediately backing away.

"Okay, okay," he raised his hands in defeat. Charlotte opened her eyes to meet his reassuring gaze as he mouthed _"you'll be okay,"_ allowing her to release the breath she was holding.

Meanwhile, Ray continued to fight off now three of the men. He was about to be knocked off his feet when he yelled, "Hey, Kid, little help over here?!" Henry quickly swooped in, and the two fought the three robbers together.

"I have a plan," Ray grunted in between throws.

"What is it?" Henry asked as he dodged punches.

"Just cover for me." Henry raised his eyebrows at his former boss, knowing that his plans didn't always go well. Ray rolled his eyes in response.

"Just trust me! I know what I'm doing." Henry shook his head but did as he was told, distracting the three men with his throws as Ray swiftly moved away from the scene to buy some time. He pulled out a surprisingly large weapon from underneath his sleeve and set it up for use.

"Hey, guys!" The robber who held Charlotte called to the others. "What the hell is that?" He pointed at Ray but they only got a small glimpse as Henry continued to distract them in combat. Ray took the opportunity to aim it at one of the men engaged with Henry, and after pressing a button, a bright white beam of laser light shot out of the weapon and through the virtually indestructible armor of one of the robbers, causing him to launch backwards and hit the wall. The shop became silent as everyone looked to the now unconscious man propped up against the wall. Even Ray was surprised to have witnessed how much power the weapon he held contained. He gawked at it silently before meeting Henry's gaze, who had his mouth slightly open in shock.

Suddenly the ear-piercing sound of a gunshot rang through the café, and Henry felt his heart skip a beat before seeing that the man who held Charlotte had his gun facing the ceiling, where now a hole was present. The sigh of relief that followed was of small comparison to the one that left Charlotte, and she refused to open her eyes when she felt the cold metal of the gun press firmly into her temple once again.

"Hand that thing over!" He shouted so loudly that Charlotte shook against him. "Or I'll kill her!"

"No way!" Ray shouted back. "Not until you remove your damn masks and tell us who you are!"

"Ray!" Henry screamed at his boss.

"I'm going to count to three, and if that shit's not on the ground by then this bullet's going straight through her skull," he threatened. Charlotte screamed as tears began rolling down her cheeks in waterfalls.

"One!"

"Ray!" Henry yelled at him again. "Drop it!"

"No!" Ray repeated. "This is our only lead!"

"Two!"

" _Ray!_ Are you fucking kidding me right now?! Put it down!" Henry felt the veins on his neck pulse as he grew with both anger and fear.

"Thr-"

"Fine!" Ray finally agreed. "I'm putting it do-"

They were interrupted by the loud police sirens in the distance that slowly approached the shop. The robbers looked to each other, their red eyes wide.

"Get him!" The man holding Charlotte pointed to the one who laid unconscious, and the three robbers immediately ran over to pick him up.

"What are you-" Ray started.

"Let's get out of here!" He released Charlotte from his grip and threw her to the side. She gasped, almost hitting the floor, until Henry swiftly wrapped his arms around her to steady her.

"It's okay, it's okay," he repeated to her softly. He looked down into her eyes sincerely, "I've got you."

Something about the familiarity of his words struck a chord within her, and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She knew that voice, she knew those words. She looked up into the brown eyes of the hero who held her, inspecting him quizzically. Lifting her hand, she gently grazed the side of his face, running her thumb over his jawline. She raised her gaze to view the dirty blond locks of hair that covered his head, and gasped when she finally realized. Moving her fingers, she slowly reached up to remove the mask covering his eyes, and the shaky breath that left her mouth matched the sharp intake of his.

"Henry?" she whispered. His eyes widened and he gulped anxiously as he stared down at the girl in his arms. He opened his mouth to say something, but then the sound of the police sirens became audible to the two once again as the cop cars parked out front.

"Great," Ray stated sarcastically. "The Swellview police strike again with their perfect timing." Several armed cops then entered the shop, "Put your hands where I can see them!"

Henry quickly placed his mask back over his eyes as Charlotte stared at him. She was overcame with shock following all the events that had just occurred. They slowly raised their hands obedient of the policemen, but their intense gaze on each other did not falter. The cops slowly brought their guns down in confusion.

"Where are the robbers?" one of them asked.

"They got away," Ray sighed. "Again."

* * *

 **Sorry for the delay! Let me know what you think! A new update will be posted soon ;)**


	14. Chapter 14

All she wanted to do was go home.

After the police arrived, they took the three of them in for questioning in regards to the robbery. They asked simple things: what happened, what they looked like, what they wanted. It was all very routine to Henry and Ray, but evidently left Charlotte even more frazzled than she already was.

By then it was already 3am. Charlotte was still in shock, having fought with her best friend, being held at gunpoint, and finding out her ex-boyfriend was Kid Danger _all_ in one night. Henry had offered to walk her home, but one of the last things she wanted right now was to look at him. So when a nice officer offered her a ride home, she quickly agreed. She hadn't noticed the worried and forlorn expressions of Henry and even Captain Man as she walked out of the station. All she could think about was getting home to her bed, where she knew she'd be safe.

When she finally reached her front porch half an hour later, her hand barely touched the doorknob before her mother had opened it. One could tell how stressed she had been with just a glance- her hair was frizzy after repeatedly running her fingers through it, her eyes had sunken into her skin with dark circles rimming underneath, and she fiercely gripped a tissue in her right hand which she undoubtedly had used to wipe her tears of worry.

"Charlotte," she breathed simply at the relieving sight of her daughter. Charlotte shut the door behind her, swallowing the painful lump growing in her throat.

"I've been so worried! What happened? I must've called you a thousand times! Don't you check your phone? A-and then I get a call from the _police station_ saying they're bringing my daughter home and I have no clue as to what happened!" Charlotte stared blankly ahead of her as her eyes began to well with tears.

"Charlotte?" Her mother asked, this time her voice softer as she pressed her palm against her cheek. "Honey, what's wrong? What happened?" Charlotte raised her gaze to look into the concerned eyes of her mom, and she let out a sob. That was it- she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Mom," she barely let out before bursting into tears. Charlotte sobbed loudly, falling into her mother's arms, bringing them both to the floor as her mom desperately held onto her.

"Oh, honey!" Now her mother was crying at the sound of her daughter's painful cries, but she wrapped her arms around her as best she could. Charlotte shook with her sobs as she felt the memory of the gun firmly pressed against her temple and how she trembled in the hold of the robber as his voice boomed throughout the shop. It had hit her.

 _I could have died._

And Charlotte was left in a series of seemingly never-ending cries of trauma as the events replayed in her mind over and over. She couldn't seem to stop them no matter how hard she tried. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the glowing red eyes of the robbers and it sent her in a fit of tears. She felt like she was losing the ability to breathe with the sound of gunshots ringing in her ears, and her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest when she remembered how scared she was of the sound coming from the gun pressed to her head.

For a week, all she could do was relive these moments over in panic attacks and terrifying nightmares leaving her restless for days. Her mother had requested days off from work to tend to Charlotte, which only made her more upset to have caused a burden. After hearing about what happened, the school excused her absences and said she may take leave for however long necessary. That also took a toll on Charlotte; indulging herself in her school work normally would be her way of coping. But her mother insisted that wanting to do homework while having panic attacks everyday was ludicrously unreasonable.

So Charlotte stayed in bed all week. Underneath her covers, with the curtains shut and her lights off; that was where she felt the most safe. No one could take her hostage or hold her at gunpoint. Her mother would thoughtfully bring her meals up to her, but many of them remained untouched. She wasn't hungry.

Jasper had tried to reach out to her quite a few times, despite the strained situation they were left in following their fight. Charlotte had her phone off and hadn't checked it since that night, so she didn't see the gazillion calls and texts she had from not only him, but some of her other worried friends at school. He even had shown up to her house, according to her mom, stopping by with chocolate chip muffins- her favorite- and an old stuffed animal she used to carry around religiously that she left at his house the last time she slept over. Her mother had brought them up to her room after he left, and Charlotte had taken them graciously. The stuffed bear lay with her under her blankets and, to her mother's surprise, she took a bite out of the muffin he had given her.

It was now Friday afternoon. The night before, Charlotte was finally able to get a full night's rest without jolting awake from a nightmare. She squinted at the sunlight coming through her curtains when she awoke in the morning, got up, and opened them to brighten up her room. She allowed her face to bask in the morning sunlight as she peered out her window, then decided to leave it ajar. A cool breeze immediately swept into her room, finding its way through her messy curls and leaving her slightly breathless at the interaction with fresh air for the first time in a week.

She padded over to her dresser and sat in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection. Her eyes looked tired, but less red than usual as she hadn't been crying recently. Her curls, as expected, were going in mindlessly different directions, and she pulled them into a low ponytail letting a few strands come loose to frame her face. And maybe it was because she hadn't eaten much that week or she just usually doesn't inspect herself as much, but she noticed just how prominent her collarbone seemed as her loose pajama shirt sleeve fell from her shoulder.

She sighed, leaning forward and placing her chin in her palm. In her mind, her dilemma with Jasper and Henry seemed minuscule in comparison to what happened. It seemed offensive and disrespectful to herself to pay them any attention with all her trauma.

But then she thought it was even more ridiculous to be afraid to offend herself, and realized she was only trying to delay the inevitable.

She tried to think of what it'd be like to date Jasper. He was sweet to her, was always there when she needed him, and never let her down. And he didn't have a secret identity to keep from her. _He'd be the safe choice._

But then she thought about how she felt around him, how her heart didn't run a mile a minute whenever he smiled, or how she didn't get lost in his hazel brown eyes, or how she didn't crave his touch since the night everything went wrong.

She shut her eyes. _If only she did._ Everything would be a lot easier.

But she didn't. She didn't feel the same way about Jasper as she did about Henry.

And that's when she knew she had to see a certain someone right now.

Charlotte quickly got up from her chair, making her way to her closet to find anything she could wear. She pulled on leggings and a knitted cardigan over her shoulders, then slipped a pair of slides on her feet. Before leaving her room, she gave herself one last look in the mirror, seeing a new determination in her eyes that gave life to them. And then she was out the door.

"Charlotte, honey?" Her mother called from the kitchen as she flew down the stairs. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, mom, but I really need to go see someone right now," she told her.

"Well, actually-" her mother started.

"Sorry, I'll explain later." Charlotte already had her hand on the knob of the front door when she turned it. As it opened, she gasped as she was surprised to see it reveal someone outside standing on her porch, their fist positioned as if they were about to knock.

"There's someone at the door," her mother sighed, a little too late.

"Jasper?" She asked breathlessly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was wondering if we could talk," he said slowly as he shifted his gaze from Charlotte to her mom who was watching behind her.

"Of course," she whipped her head around to face her mother, giving her a look, then turned back to Jasper, "why don't we talk out here?" Jasper nodded as she stepped out the door, shutting it behind her.

"Do you wanna sit?" She offered. Jasper nodded and followed her to the porch swing. The two sat down, Jasper normally and Charlotte with her right leg tucked underneath her left thigh. Jasper gently swung the chair with his feet as the two sat in silence for a few moments. Feeling a chilly breeze, Charlotte wrapped her cardigan tightly around her and crossed her arms over her stomach.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Charlotte asked to break the silence. Jasper turned to her.

"How are you?"

"Okay," she answered truthfully. "Thanks for the muffin and my bear, by the way."

"Of course." He hesitated for a moment. "Have you been eating?" Charlotte mentally groaned. _Did Mom tell him_ everything? She sighed.

"Honestly, not really, besides your muffin," she answered. She immediately noticed the worried look on his face. "But don't worry, I'm fine. I'll have dinner tonight." He accepted her answer with reluctance.

"I've been thinking about that night over and over in my head ever since it happened," he said suddenly, shifting a bit to face her. "And I've just been so mad at myself."

"Jasp," Charlotte started, facing him. "Don't worry, it's okay."

"No, Char, it's not." His voice was firm. "I shouldn't have expected so much from you in such a short period of time. I-I should've stayed when you asked me to, when you _begged_ me to. I shouldn't have made you cry knowing how you were already feeling." He was looking at his hands now which were balled up in anger, his eyebrows furrowed in distraught.

"And then everything that happened after I left? The robbers?" He looked back up at her. "If I had just stayed-" Jasper's voice cracked as he said this, bringing his gaze down to hide the tears that were forming in his eyes. Charlotte watched with a pained heart as her best friend spoke.

"Maybe you wouldn't have had to face the robbers," Jasper finished softly. "Maybe things would have gone differently." Charlotte brought her hand out to grip his, to which his eyes immediately darted to.

"Look at me," she told him. And he did.

"I am _fine_. I'm here, sitting in front of you, with all my bones and organs in tact. I'm alive and and perfectly healthy. Okay? Don't worry about me."

"But-"

"And I know you think you could've helped, but honestly it would've been two against four, and the four were large and armed. And knowing you, you would've tried so hard to get me out of the situation which while is very sweet, would have probably angered them and we both would not be here." This made him laugh, bringing a smile to Charlotte's face.

"So don't beat yourself up over this," she said sternly, shaking their hands for emphasis. "Because everything turned out fine the way things went." Jasper smiled at her.

"Besides your store literally shattering into a million pieces," he noted. Now Charlotte laughed.

"That too." The two smiled at each other before Charlotte gazed down at their still-holding hands, then pulled her hand back.

"Charlotte," he started. "I heard you that night at the café. I don't expect you to have changed your mind over the span of a week." Charlotte released a breath of relief.

"But I at least deserve to know," he said slowly, "if the guy you were just going to go see is Henry." Charlotte's sharp intake and loss for words gave him his answer. Jasper scoffed, turning away.

"I knew it," he spoke. "After everything that's happened, all the pain he's caused you? Do you remember how hurt you were? You _cried_ to me, Charlotte. And you're still going back to him?" He shook his head in disbelief as Charlotte just looked around with her mouth open, searching for the right words to say.

"I-I was just going to go talk to him," she defended.

"About what?" _Should I tell him?_

"I just need to see him, Jasper," she said instead. "I'm sorry, I know that's not what you wanted to hear."

"Yep, definitely not," he stressed. He placed his head in his hands and his elbows over his knees, leaning forward on the swing.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt again," he said. Charlotte pressed her lips together, bringing a hand to his shoulder.

"You don't need to protect me, Jasper," she responded. "I just need you to trust me."

"I do trust you," he answered. "I don't trust _him_."

"And that's why I need to go talk to him," she explained. "I know what I have to do, Jasper." He looked up at her, seeing her eyes filled with determination before he sighed.

"Fine," he finally spoke reluctantly. Charlotte grinned before leaning over to place a kiss on his cheek.

"I know I say this a lot, but I mean it," she said. "I love you." Jasper rolled his eyes.

"I love you, too. Now, go before I kick you off your own porch swing."


	15. Chapter 15

The bells attached to the door jingled as Charlotte walked into Junk 'N Stuff. She was slightly out of breath, having barely moved all week. She glanced throughout the small store looking for a blond head, then furrowed her eyebrows when she couldn't.

Approaching the cashier at the front desk, she asked, "Hi, is Henry Hart here today?" She was sure he'd be working, since that's what he always seemed to be doing when they weren't together and not at school.

The tall man behind the desk cocked an eyebrow at her. He had been reading a newspaper before Charlotte had interrupted. He was tan and had a long but thin beard reaching down to his chest. His outfit was strange, but nonetheless not very out of the ordinary to see in Swellview.

"Who are you?" he asked in a thick middle-eastern accent.

"I'm Charlotte," she answered slowly, slightly confused. "I'm Henry's... friend." The man eyed her suspiciously, not used to having visitors. After a few moments of intense eye contact, he finally spoke.

"Henry doesn't work here anymore." He released his suspenseful stare on the short girl in front of him and picked back up his newspaper. Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows, stepping forward to place her fists on the counter.

"What do you mean?" She asked. "When did he stop working here?"

"Almost a week ago," he responded nonchalantly, not looking up from his paper. _After that night,_ Charlotte thought.

"Can you tell me why he stopped working?" Charlotte questioned further.

"I really shouldn't say," he replied casually, flipping a page. Then, leaning forward, "he was fired."

"What?" Charlotte was baffled. "Why?"

"Maybe you should ask him that," he answered. Charlotte sighed. He was bound to stop answering her questions at some point.

 _Why would he get fired?_ She wondered to herself. _He_ saved _me._

Charlotte reluctantly replayed the events from that night in her head once more. She passed through the gunshots and the shrieks of terror, to the part where she was in Henry's arms. Well, Kid Danger's, until she removed his mask.

Charlotte gasped. That's when it hit her.

"Thank you," she told the cashier before dashing out the door. He barely nodded in her direction.

Soon enough, she was at Henry's front door. She gulped, her fist inches away from knocking on the smooth wooden surface. Suddenly she was nervous. She was so determined to see him on her walk over, and now, realizing it was going to be her first time seeing him knowing his secret, she was nervous.

She was about to talk to Kid Danger.

She began to pace his front porch, shaking her now clammy hands to relieve her nerves. She was about to knock again when she heard a familiar voice.

"Charlotte?" She looked up to meet the voice of the boy she was anticipating. He was looking at her through his bedroom window. "Why- what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you," she answered. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, yeah, of course, I'll be right there." He hastily rushed out of his room and down the stairs. Charlotte could hear his heavy footsteps outside the door as he fiddled with the lock. And then it was opened and he was standing in front of her.

He was just as she remembered. His hair was messy and his eyes were sad but not dull. He wore a blue long-sleeved tee, plaid pajama pants and slippers on his feet. After witnessing Charlotte study him he suddenly grew self-conscious, scratching the back of his neck.

"I-I didn't know you were coming," he stuttered, embarrassed. "I would've-"

"It's fine, Henry," Charlotte said. He pressed his lips together.

"So, are you gonna let me in?" Henry sheepishly stepped to the side, letting Charlotte into his home.

"I like your house," she said while entering. And that's when Henry realized she'd never been here before.

"Uh, thanks," he muttered softly.

"Are your parents home?" She realized the context that her question might have sounded like, ducking her head down sheepishly.

"I didn't-"

"I know," he spoke for her. "No, they're not home. My sister Piper-"

Suddenly, his sister walked through the door, two of her friends in tow. She was having a conversation before looking surprised to see Henry out of his room.

"-is home now," he finished. "What are you doing here, Piper?"

"I live here," she stated as if it was obvious. "Mom said I can have friends over." She looked past Henry to see a short girl with curly hair behind him.

"Oh my God, is that Charlotte?" She asked, a grin spreading across her face. "Are you guys-" The mortified look on Henry's face immediately stopped her short, and she shook her head.

"Never mind. Nice meeting you, Charlotte," Piper smiled at her, and she smiled back, a warm feeling growing in her chest at the idea of Henry talking about her to his little sister.

Piper led her friends to the kitchen as they rummaged through the fridge. Seeing as they were getting kind of loud, Henry suggested, "Maybe we should go to my room." Charlotte nodded and she followed him up the stairs. The two didn't speak the way up and he didn't start until he shut his bedroom door.

"Sorry it's kind of messy in here," he apologized as he walked into his room. His bed was unmade and a few clothes were aimlessly thrown onto his floor.

"I know you were fired, Henry." Charlotte had barely stepped in front of his door when she decided to rip it off like a bandaid. He raised his eyebrows in question.

"I went over to Junk 'N Stuff asking for you," she explained. "And I know why you got fired."

"He told you?" He asked her in surprise.

"No, but I'm not stupid, Henry. I put two and two together." Henry shook his head as if it was obvious.

"Well, I guess maybe a little stupid," Charlotte admitted, and Henry looked up.

"I knew you were hiding something, I just didn't think it'd be that you're _Kid Danger_ ," she slowly took two steps forward, her gaze not lifting from the floor. "I really thought you were in trouble." She scoffed, raising her fingers to her temples. " _So stupid._ "

"You're not stupid," he defended her as Charlotte shook her head. "You're the smartest girl I know." She looked up at him then, studying his gaze.

"I never had anyone care about me so much," Henry finished. Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Of course I cared." They looked at each other fondly for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked. "I never got to ask."

"Yeah, I'm okay," she responded with a sigh. "Now I just have a bunch of school work to catch up on." Henry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"You haven't been in school?"

"No, my mom thought it'd be best if I skipped a week and stayed home," she answered. "Y-you didn't notice?"

"No, it's not that," he responded. "I haven't been in school either."

"What?" It then hit Charlotte; she wasn't the only one affected that night. Seeing her expression, Henry felt the need to explain.

"Not for the same reason, though." Charlotte tilted her head. "Well, yeah, it's been eating me that I could've lost you all week. And I'm not super happy about getting fired. That's all I've been able to think about, so I thought, 'what's the point of going to school if I know I'm not gonna be able to focus on any work?'" Charlotte was hesitant to speak then, surprised at what he had said.

"And your parents let you stay home?"

"My parents are too busy with work to notice," he replied. "I told Piper, and she just told them I'm sick or something."

"Does she know, too? About..."

"No," he sighed. "Nobody does except you."

He plopped onto the edge of his bed, and Charlotte did the same. Charlotte didn't know if she should feel awkward or happy about their close proximity, and she didn't know what to do with her hands on her lap until she resorted to folding them together.

"Char?" He asked suddenly. She immediately looked in his direction, only to see his gaze remained on his fiddling hands in his lap.

"I'm really sorry," he finally looked at her, "for everything." Charlotte couldn't get herself to meet his eyes, so she focused on a random black tee on the ground.

"I didn't mean for you to get hurt," he continued, shifting completely so his body was facing hers. "I didn't want to keep me being Kid Danger a secret from you. My boss- uh, Captain Man- made me take an oath when I started, that I'd never tell anyone. And being thirteen, I was blindsided by _the_ Captain man _talking_ to me, let alone giving me a job." Charlotte smiled at that part, her gaze still fixed on the shirt on the ground. Henry felt himself become a bit more at ease.

"So when I met you," he started again, "and we started getting close, he wanted me to stop hanging out with you. I really wanted to tell you, especially when things got serious-" He realized what he said after he said it, and Charlotte finally looked at him.

"You thought things would get serious?" Her heart was beating a little faster, a flicker of hope igniting within her.

"Yeah," he replied honestly. "I couldn't- I _can't_ see myself with anyone but you." His intense gaze on her made her turn away. For a few moments, it was silent between the two as Charlotte searched for the words to say. When Henry couldn't bear it any longer, he broke the silence.

"Char-"

"Then why'd you break up with me?" she finally asked, looking at him.

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"The only way you hurt me was by keeping that secret." Henry shook his head.

"If I told you, you would've wanted to get involved-"

"Of course I want to get involved."

"And that's what I didn't want." Charlotte knitted her eyebrows, confused and frustrated. Henry sighed.

"You knowing that I'm Kid Danger puts _your_ life at risk. If the villains and criminals we fight with ever find out you're involved with us, _you_ become a target. And with all the robberies and your new job, I didn't want to put you more at risk." Charlotte took in a sharp breath. Suddenly, everything started to make sense.

"So that's why you were so against me getting a job," she spoke mainly to herself. "You thought the café would get robbed while I was there." Henry nodded.

"And it did," she said bluntly. Henry's gaze softened.

"Char," he whispered, placing a hand hesitantly on her shoulder.

"But it happened before I found out you were Kid Danger, not after," she said then, turning to him. "It happened _anyway._ Things happen, Henry, coincidentally. You can't protect me all the time because you never know when something will go wrong." The lines on Henry's forehead became prominent as he thought about what she said, until he shook his head in reply.

"But there's still that greater risk if you're associated with me, Char." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"How risky can it be?"

"Have you seen the people we deal with? We've been trying to track down those robbers for months _._ "

"And I could help you guys," Charlotte defended. "I know how to work in situations like these. And I've experienced them firsthand."

"So have we! We've encountered them several times already."

"But it was different-"

"You were held at _gunpoint!"_ Henry regretted the words immediately as he said them. He had said them out of exasperation, trying to prove a point to her. But when he saw how tightly she had shut her eyes after, he knew he made a mistake.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, his voice lower. He placed a hand on her shoulder thoughtfully, but her eyes remained closed as she tried to ward off the memory before it came. _Focus,_ she told herself. After a moment, her heartbeat slowed, and she breathed out a sigh of relief when it disappeared. Then she sighed, opening her eyes.

"It's okay," she forgave him. "I know why you said it. You're right, I _was_ held at gunpoint." Henry pressed his lips together sadly, moving his hand soothingly down her arm.

"But that doesn't change what I want- what I _need_ to do." She placed a hand on his forearm and Henry grew concerned.

"Charlotte-"

"No, Henry, I need this. I need to help you get the robbers because I know I can help and I'm not going to be able to sleep until I _know_ that they're caught."

"I don't know..." Henry trailed off, still not convinced. He looked down to where his fingers were now mindlessly playing with hers, and Charlotte finally noticed. She looked at him then, taking the chance to while he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were as unsure and nervous as his actions and demeanor. But she wasn't unsure at all.

Charlotte took his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers together. She immediately felt her heart race, taken aback to the first time he held her hand when walking her home from work. Henry felt himself go still, surprised at the sudden action as his gaze lingered on their hands. He slowly looked up to meet her eyes, which held not a sliver of doubt in them.

"Trust me." The two words alone could have been enough for him. He knew he could trust her with his life if he needed to. But it wasn't that he didn't trust her. He just knew how dangerous their job could get.

But then she squeezed his hand and gave him a soft closed-mouth smile and he realized how much he missed this, how much he missed _her._

And he didn't want to lose her again.

"Fine," he agreed reluctantly, shutting his eyes and falling back onto his bed. Except he forgot their hands were linked together, so she fell with him, and now they laid with their backs against his bed, face to face. He feared of her reaction until he noticed the grin on her face.

"Thank you," she said. "I was going to help anyway, but it was nice of you to be compliant." Henry rolled her eyes which made her laugh, and it was like music to his ears. Hearing her laugh while they were still holding hands and laying atop his bed, Henry suddenly felt the urge to kiss her. He placed a hand on her cheek and Charlotte visibly stiffened, shocked at his abrupt action. Before he could regret it, he swiftly pressed his lips against hers.

It took a moment for Charlotte to relax into him, but when she did, it was just like before. His lips were tender and they molded against hers as he leaned into her, trying to get closer. She was smiling now, bringing a hand up to place gently over his chest. But she ended the moment abruptly when she pulled away and sat up. Henry opened his eyes to a grinning Charlotte looking down on him as he pouted at her.

"Get up," she nudged his knee, which only made him pout more. She laughed, then nudged his knee again.

"Okay, I'm up," he spoke, sitting up. "What are you doing?" Charlotte stood up, walking to his bedroom door.

"We're gonna get your job back."


	16. Chapter 16

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Henry asked.

"No." Henry placed his fingers to his temples in distress.

"Hey." Charlotte placed a comforting hand over his shoulder, and he glanced down at her.

"Whatever happens, I'm here for you." She smiled up at him, and she spoke so confidently he couldn't help but smile back. What he didn't know was that Charlotte too was not sure if their plan would work. Heck, she barely had a plan besides providing an ultimatum to Ray. But she knew Henry needed a constant right now, and she decided that it would be her.

Henry took a deep breath as he gazed up at the Junk 'N Stuff store sign above them. They were just about to enter the store when he was hit with a wave of worry. But now as he stood outside with Charlotte in front of him, he realized that even if he didn't get his job back, he would be okay.

He felt a tug on his hand and looked down to see Charlotte holding his. He smiled when she gave his fingers a reassuring squeeze, then stepped through the door.

He immediately started heading towards the elevator when Gooch stopped him at the register.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked Henry.

"I need to talk to Ray, Gooch," Henry replied. _Gooch? His name is_ Gooch? Charlotte thought.

"With _her_?" Gooch gestured to Charlotte.

"Yes." Henry laced his fingers with Charlotte's. "With her." Charlotte tried to ignore the quickening of her heart rate when he said those words so surely.

Gooch narrowed his eyes at the two for a moment that felt like eternity to Henry and Charlotte, then lifted his newspaper. "Ray won't be happy," he pointed without looking up. But when he didn't ask any more questions, Henry decided to pass through.

He pressed the button to the elevator, and it opened after a few moments. They were about to step in when Henry held her back.

"Just a warning," he started, facing the girl beside him. "This is kind of a rocky ride."

Charlotte cocked an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"

"The elevator literally plummets down to the Man Cave." Charlotte widened her eyes at him as Henry dragged her inside.

"And you're sure this is safe?" she asked him.

"Uh," Henry dragged. "It's a short ride." The elevator doors closed.

"That's not what I asked-!" Charlotte barely finished her sentence when they began free-falling down the elevator. She screamed as she tried to reach towards Henry, and he managed to reach his arms out and pull her to him. They held onto each other tightly the rest of the way down, and soon enough they hit the bottom with a jolt. The pair fell to the floor and groaned at the harsh impact.

"Are you alright?" Henry asked her, seeing her rubbing her head in pain. He stood up and held a hand out for Charlotte, then gently covered the spot she was rubbing with his hand.

"No, I'm not alright!" she exclaimed. "What kind of elevator is this?!"

"I warned you!" Henry told her, then placed his hands on either of her cheeks. "Seriously, are you okay? Did you hit your head? Are you bruised?" He playfully moved her head around, checking for bruising, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Stop," she laughed, "yeah, I'm okay. Thanks, doc." He grinned down at her, kissing her forehead, and she felt butterflies erupting in her stomach all over again.

They didn't realize that the elevator doors had opened, and Ray stood in the Man Cave in front of them with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"What are you doing here?" Henry turned towards his old boss' voice. He looked angry but tired, as if he'd been up all night.

"I wanted to talk to you," Henry responded confidently.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Ray gestured towards Charlotte. She stepped forward.

"I wanted to talk to you, too," she spoke, "about giving Henry his job back." It was silent for a moment as Ray looked at them.

"So," he started towards Henry, "she, like, knows everything?" Henry nodded.

"Like," Ray moved his hand in a circle for emphasis, then in a lower voice, " _everything_ everything?" Henry rolled his eyes.

"Yes," Charlotte answered for him. Ray shook his head.

"Do you seriously think I'm going to give him his job back after admitting to breaking our oath?" he asked.

"He didn't." Ray furrowed his eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean he never told me his secret," Charlotte spoke, stepping forward. "I found out myself."

"And how'd you do that?" He stood as if he was challenging her, his eyebrows raised awaiting her explanation.

"I pulled off his mask during the robbery at the Swell Café," she told him. "He didn't break your oath at all. I was the one who kept pushing him to tell me his secret, but he never did. He stood by your oath. That's why he broke up with me." Ray looked at Henry as she said this, and the blond stood listening with his hands in his pockets.

"You can't fire him for something he didn't do," she continued. "Henry deserves this job more than anyone. He puts it before anything and anyone. You need to let him be Kid Danger again." She looked at Henry this time, who gave her a soft smile. She could tell in his eyes that he was hoping Ray would lighten up and listen, because she was right; he never technically broke their oath. The two studied Henry's former boss' gaze and several moments of silence passed before Ray finally spoke again, shaking his head.

"No." He turned around after his simple statement and started walking away from them. Henry and Charlotte shared a look of worry before chasing after him.

"What? Why?" Charlotte questioned in disbelief. "He did nothing wrong!"

"Nothing?" Ray turned towards the shorter girl, causing her to stop abruptly in her tracks. "I told him _long_ ago in the beginning of all this that if he wants to continue working here, he'd have to stop hanging out with you in case you found out our secret. He didn't listen. And guess what? That exactly happened." Now Henry stepped forward.

"But it's _my_ life, Ray! You can't tell me how to live my life outside of this Man Cave when I'm not wearing the Kid Danger uniform."

"I gave you a set of rules when you started working here, kid. And I made it very clear that if you broke any of them, you'd be out."

"But I never broke _anything._ I always stood by and respected our oath, and you _still_ fired me."

"Yeah, man, you were really wrong for that," Charlotte pointed. Ray rolled his eyes and Henry shook his head. Charlotte mouthed a 'sorry' to the blond and Ray sighed.

"Fine, I admit that was a little out of line," he let out. Henry looked to Charlotte and the two shared a hopeful glance.

"But even if I did give Henry his job back," Ray continued. "What am I going to do with you?" He looked at Charlotte with raised eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I don't trust you," Ray stated. "Especially after you sent me to jail? I can't have you knowing our secret."

"So..." Charlotte wore a confused expression.

"I'm going to have to erase your memory."

"What?!" Henry and Charlotte exclaimed in unison.

"No, you can't do that, Ray," Henry said seriously, stepping closer to him. "I won't let you."

"Erase my memory?!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Are you serious?"

"You leave me no choice!" Ray responded. "You could expose our secret."

"She wouldn't do that," Henry said. "I trust her, Ray."

"Well, I don't," Ray responded flatly with a shrug. "So I'm going to have to wipe her memory."

"Wait!" Charlotte exclaimed, holding her hands out. "I could work for you." Ray scoffed.

"Doing what?" he asked dubiously.

"I know how you can catch the robbers," she told him, taking a step forward. "And I can help you." Ray raised his eyebrows.

"Seriously?" he questioned. "How?"

"I'll show you," she placed her hands on her hips, "if you promise not to wipe my memory."

"No deal," Ray shook his head. "You could be pulling an act for all I know."

"I'm not," she responded. "And I think you know that, too." Ray rolled his eyes.

"I don't need your help," he retorted. "I can catch them on my own."

"Right, now tell me, how long have you been trying to catch these guys?" she challenged him. "And how many times have they gotten away?" Henry raised his eyebrows and pouted his lips when she said that, and she smirked. Ray studied her, his arms crossed over his chest. Charlotte took a step forward.

"I was there the night of the robbery, too. They definitely had a motive. I could get you a lead on these guys by tonight," she continued. "You can trust me." Ray looked at her as if he was debating a critical moral dilemma, and finally, after an eternity of waiting and Henry and Charlotte holding their breath, Ray spoke.

"Fine," he exasperated, "I won't wipe your memory." Charlotte grinned.

"And I can have my job back?" Henry asked hopefully.

"Yeah, yeah, you get your job back, kid." Ray rolled his eyes but smiled at him. Henry beamed, throwing a fist in the air.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, hugging Ray. "Thank you."

"And thanks for not wiping my memory, I guess," Charlotte told him.

"No problem." He shot her a thumbs-up to which Charlotte rolled her eyes in reply. Then she turned to Henry who was approaching her, and before she could argue he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her in the air. Charlotte laughed as he spun her around, and their faces were both lit with glee when he put her down.

"You're seriously so amazing," Henry gawked at her. "I can't believe you just got me my job back."

"Oh, it was nothing," she joked, fanning the air once with her hand. "It was the least I could do after basically getting you fired." Henry looked at her as she grinned up at him, and he tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear.

"I never should've broken up with you," he spoke seriously then, "it was the biggest mistake I ever could've made." Charlotte leaned into his hand where it lingered after touching her hair.

"It's okay, Henry," she replied in a softer voice. "I mean, I was really hurt at first, obviously. But I understand why you did it. And I forgive you." She smiled at him to which he returned.

"I don't deserve you at all," he said slowly, "but I'd love for you to give me another chance." Charlotte grinned.

"Well I guess I have no choice then, do I?" Henry smiled, placing both his hands on her cheeks and kissing her. Charlotte chased after his lips after they parted for a split second, wrapping her arms around his neck and he moved his to her waist as they pulled each other closer. She felt a chill go up her spine when his lips caught hers in a way that left her not wanting any space between them ever again, and she didn't want this moment to end.

Ray cleared his throat as he stood a few feet away. "I'm still here, you know." Henry absentmindedly waved Ray's words away with his hand before placing it back on Charlotte's waist, neither of them parting from each other. Ray rolled his eyes, groaning in response, then marched up the steps to his bedroom.

And as Henry kissed the girl of his dreams in the middle of the Man Cave with the knowledge of having his job back, he felt the happiest he had ever been, like everything was finally perfect.


End file.
